Working Out
by shellbell0944
Summary: Peeta tells Katniss and Haymitch that they need to become Careers to get ready for the third Quarter Quell, but training can be comical...right? These are their final months in District 12 before the Quell. It's full of funny workout moments, and sweet last moments with Gale specifically, Peeta, Haymitch, Prim, Katniss' mother, and Madge.
1. Knives and Dumbbells

**Working Out**

**Chapter 1: Knives and Dumbbells**

"**Working Out" begins the moment Peeta tells Katniss and Haymitch that they need to become like the Careers in order to get ready for the Third Quarter Quell. After I read the 2-3 pages in Catching Fire about their prepping I imagined a bunch of funny workout moments, and sweet last moments with Gale (specifically), Prim, Katniss' mother, and Madge, and so I ended up writing some of them down. This story has been a bit of comedic relief for me while I've been working on a darker AU story of Catching Fire, and I hope that you all will find at least some humor in this story as well.**

**Anything that you recognize is from Suzanne Collin's **_**The Hunger Games**_** trilogy. Italics are for internal monologues and dreams. Each chapter equals a week of workouts, training, eating, preparing for the Quarter Quell, etc. It has actually been more work than anticipated so I'll continue if people are intrigued, but the chapters may get slightly shorter. If you like what you read please write me a quick review! I'll continue posting chapters if I know there are people out there that like the story. :) I hope you all enjoy!**

**Day After the Quell Announcement, Tuesday:**

"...two of us are coming home from the Capitol. One mentor and one victor,'' says Peeta. "Effie's sending me recordings of all the living victors. We're going to watch their Games and learn everything we can about how they fight. We're going to put on weigh and get strong. We're going to start acting like Careers. And one of us is going to be victor again whether you like it or not!" He sweeps out of the room, slamming the front door.

Haymitch and I wince at the bang.

"I don't like self-righteous people," I say.

"What's to like?" says Haymitch, who begins sucking the dregs out of the empty bottles.

"You and me. That's who he plans on coming home," I say.

"Well, then the joke's on him," says Haymitch.

"I'm not working out with him," I say, even though I know that when Peeta suggests we do something it is usually in our best interest to do it. In that irritable way, he's a lot like Haymitch, although, I will never tell either of them that. I don't want Peeta to direct my everyday schedule before the Quell. _They're my final months and I'll do with them as I please,_ I make up my mind.

"The nerve of that boy," Haymitch slowly growls deep in the back of his throat. I suspect that he would be cursing Peeta out right now if he hadn't have been shocked near speechless. The look on his face reflects flickers of different emotions and thoughts gaining momentum in his bothered, hung over mind, ranging from deep betrayal to a sort of sadness I see sometimes when something bad is about to happen.

Peeta who is normally so gentle just yelled at both of us again, just like in District 11 after he found out that we had been covering up President Snow's threat. It's always enough to rattle us because he is always patient and understanding. But today he also took on a completely different persona, one that I've only seen a few times. The first time was when he was in the arena and I was still under the effects of the Tracker Jacker venom. After that I noticed it when he was trying to protect me from anything and everything, the fight between Cato and the Mutts, then when the Peacekeepers pushed us away with their guns, and now here he is doing it again, only this time it seems to be laced with anger towards me and Haymitch.

"You aren't going to work out with him are you?" I ask Haymitch.

"Pff. No. I don't see the point," he responds with an agitated look. I silently wonder if Haymitch is more upset about the cutoff of alcohol or that Peeta demands that we start a workout regimen, which is something I can't see Haymitch being able to pull off.

After we finish our soup I tell him I have to get home, but that's a lie. I just don't want to be around hungover _and_ sober Haymitch, because that ranks pretty high up there in the land of scary. It's almost as bad as the tributes in my nightmares.I figure I should let him be for a couple days to work off the withdrawal symptoms, but vow in my head to keep an eye on him to make sure he's at least eating.

**Wednesday:**

The next day I cautiously enter Haymitch's house to bring him some more soup. It's lucky that I'm prepared to for the terrifying, sober Haymitch, because when he hears the door open and someone walk inside he throws his disgusting knife in my direction. Well, 'in my direction' isn't all that accurate. It'd be closer to say that he tried to throw it straight in front of him but it somehow veered all the way to the kitchen table and stuck in the wood of one of the legs. _Great shot_. Sometimes I can't believe he won a Quarter Quell with 48 tributes, let alone the Hunger Games in general. What did he do...hide until everyone else had killed each other or died from other causes?

I think about Haymitch's pitiful attempt to swipe at Peeta for dumping all his liquor down the drain and his attempt at killing me 'the intruder' today and begin to think that maybe Peeta's right. Maybe we should train, because if Peeta's name does get reaped and Haymitch volunteers for Peeta, Haymitch will be quite useless in making it through the Quell. Wait, what am I thinking? If he goes in with me, what would we do? Ally to only have to kill each other at the end if we're lucky to make it that far? Would we split up and hope someone else kills the other so we wouldn't have to? No! No! What is wrong with me? I can't be thinking things like this about Haymitch. I already know what my plan is if Peeta is the other tribute, but I haven't thought about what would happen if Haymitch volunteered for Peeta. What then? What's the plan then?

Haymitch interrupts my frantic thoughts with a muffled "Sorry. I thought you were her," as he goes towards the couch and takes a seat, rubbing his eyes followed by his temples.

_Her? Hmm I don't think I wanna tug on that thread while he's having hallucinations.._ "It's okay," I say as I bring the soup over to where he's sitting, hoping that his little knifecapades are over and he can restrain himself from being violent now, at least during the meal.

Peeta must have seen me walk over with the soup because a few seconds after Haymitch starts eating the soup he walks in with a loaf of bread on a plate. _Bread does go excellent with soup_...I should have known he would find some reason to wander over here and pester us about becoming Careers again.

Peeta puts the bread down on a nearby coffee table and reaches his hand out for the knife, but Haymitch only grunts with his mouth full and swats his hand away like he's a pesky fly. Peeta's brows furrow up and he asks him where his knife is so he can clean it and cut the bread. Haymitch just ignores him and keeps shoveling the food into his mouth.

I walk over to the table, pull it out of the wood and bring it over to Peeta. I extend it out to him but he doesn't take it. Instead, he's got an uneasy expression on his face as he looks from the knife to my face, and then suddenly his whole body goes tense and his eyes widen with panic and rage.

"You threw a knife at her!" he screams at a very, unsuspecting Haymitch. Haymitch rubs his temples again, starts saying "Look boy.." and gets up to push Peeta, along with his screams, away from his pounding, sober head. But Peeta is angrier than I've ever seen him, and with his training in wrestling he's much faster than Haymitch who just barely manages to raise his arms to his chest before Peeta grabs them both spins him around and slams him down hard on the couch. Haymitch exhales loudly and it seems like Peeta knocked the wind straight out of him.

"I can't believe you Haymitch!" Peeta screams even louder, his fury multiplying with every second. "How could you do that? What if you hurt her?" He suddenly pulls Haymitch's arms above his back even further and then slams him down again harder than the first time. "What if you killed her!" he howls.

I jump involuntarily. Yep, that's for sure the loudest I have ever heard Peeta's voice. I didn't know a human being could hit that decibel.

Suddenly Haymitch jerks his body to the right and Peeta goes flying off the couch and lands angrily on the floor. They both fly at each other, huffing and cursing here and there, although the cursing is coming mostly from Haymitch.

I had always kind of wondered who would win in a fight between Haymitch and Peeta. Just out of curiosity. But this doesn't really seem like a fair fight, what with Haymitch having withdrawals and Peeta's prosthetic leg. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued enough to let this go on for a bit because I want to see who will win. Or should I say, who is angrier. So I just stand there wiggling the knife in and out of my fingers watching the two idiots try to pin one another. Maybe this is what it's like when you're close to a wrestling match. I was always sitting far away in the bleachers when we watched the matches at school, so I didn't really see the intricate movements then. But now I do. I've got the best seat in the house.

They wrestle around for control of the others' shoulders. Haymitch is now throwing punches and kicking violently at Peeta, but despite Peeta's anger his movements are controlled and smooth just like when he was wrestling. Sometimes Haymitch gets the better hand and whips Peeta around onto his back, and Peeta struggles to regain control only having one real leg after all. Haymitch sputters, "Boy that fake leg's really got ya down doesn't it!"

"Yeah well at least it's better than losing a fight to someone twice as young as you!" He spits out as he uses three swift moves to flip Haymitch to the ground and pin him to the point that Haymitch can't move an arm or leg. He just lays on the ground, spewing out curses like if he doesn't the world will come to an end. Haymitch is thrashing viciously until his breathing becomes so labored that Peeta finally lets go of him and they both slump to the floor breathing hard.

I go to the kitchen, pull out a couple clean, _I hope_, glasses and fill them with water. I give them to Peeta and Haymitch and raise Peeta's arm in victory. "And Peeta is the winner!" I declare smiling for the first time since the third Quarter Quell was announced.

But Peeta snatches away his arm, stands up, and looks at me square in the eye. He looks at me for a few seconds and my entertained smile fades into an apprehensive one. I had never seen Peeta so mad before. And I had never seen him fight Haymitch. Two firsts. I wonder what's coming for me now.

_Peeta shocks me by quickly grabbing the middle of my back and presses me into a hurried kiss. He's never kissed me like this, and I wonder what on God's green earth got jumbled around enough in his head during the fight where he would kiss me so passionately when he seems to be furious at me too. Wasn't he mad at me for a whole list of reasons, but starting with "I chose Gale"?_

_His soft lips drag me away from my thoughts and I'm so shocked that I kiss him back as hard as he is kissing me and I hear a little whimper escape his throat. Then as soon as it hits me that we are both enjoying this kiss, like in the cave, he pulls back his lips and lets go of my back like he had burned himself by touching me. We both wobble a bit to steady ourselves, and then he looks at me and says, "Don't come back here again until he" and he points with disdain at Haymitch "is not having withdrawals. I'll take care of him until then." And he stalks off and shuts the door with a bang._

_Just as soon as the door shuts I turn around and find a teenager where Haymitch used to be lying down. A sly grin spreads over his face and he snickers as he grabs the knife. He lunges toward me and slices my stomach. When he sits on the couch he turns back into Haymitch and he just sits there and says, "I promised, sweetheart." He glides off the couch, gripping the knife tightly in his hand, and walks towards the door saying, "Now, to get the boy and be done with this." He slams the door hard._

**Thursday:**

I jolt awake and suddenly pull up the bottom of my shirt until it reveals a stomach that isn't bleeding. My fingers glide over my lips and I start wondering if this was going to be what my dreams consisted of now. Confusing, hurried kisses with Peeta. Taking orders from him. Haymitch reverting from old to young and back again, slicing me and Peeta open. Or will my dreams revert to my typical Hunger Games nightmares? I'm almost not sure which ones I prefer. Both of them startle me awake. Both of them leave my mind feeling foggy, pained, and weighed down.

I kick off the covers and realize that it's actually morning. I slept through the night. How did that happen? The sun is rising slowly, blocked by a silvery sky with spots of baby blue, the color of Peeta's eyes, poking through here and there. Peeta's eyes. Peeta! I remember my dream and try to block out the fact that our mentor and friend just went on a killing spree in the Victor's Village.

I realize that not only do I have no idea what Haymitch's fighting skills are, besides being a raging drunk who carries a knife, I have no clue what else he might know how to do. Peeta and I certainly don't have as much training as some of the other victors, and come to think of it, we don't even know who they are. I remember some of the victors from past years, but that in and of itself is a vague recollection. What's more fuzzy is the actual Games where the victors won. How had they won again? Who was a Career? Which victors should we feel the most threatened by? What skills did they have?

I wash my face with cold water, throw on different clothes, and walk over to Peeta's house. I'm sure he's up. He's always up at the break of dawn baking something.

I open his front door and walk in the entryway. It smells like bread the moment I walk in. _Yep, he's definitely baking._ I walk to the kitchen and there he is with a small mixing bowl in his arms beating away at it. I see a fresh loaf of bread cooling on a large wire rack sitting on his white countertops.

He looks up at me and I see the raised crescents under his eyes. He's obviously did not get a full night's sleep.

"What are you doing here?" he startles me.

My, my, he's gotten awful testy since they announced the Quell. Eh, I guess at least part of my dream had mirrored reality.

I don't understand him. He knows I have feelings for Gale. He doesn't have to worry about the engagement anymore since I'm for sure going back into the Games. And he can ask Haymitch for whatever he wants. Why won't he just settle for Haymitch and I going in together so that the one decent Victor in District 12 can stay behind? How can he not see that he is the most useful Victor out of all of this to keep the rebellion going? No one can speak as eloquently as he does. Wasn't he the one who said we were wrong to try to calm down the districts? It's his turn to be what the rebellion needs. I don't have anything to offer them. I'm just a stupid girl who managed to pull out some poisonous berries to test the limits of the Games and get him tangled up in this mess.

"I came to tell you that I want to workout with you," I say in an irritated voice. "And, I think it is a good idea to watch the Games too."

"Good. Now we just have to convince Haymitch." Peeta says as he turns his attention back to the mixing bowl. "We'll start tomorrow. That's when the tapes from Effie will arrive."

"Ok," I breathe, and I turn to go back home but he says one more thing, still not bothering to look up from his mixing.

"We start at 9:00. Wear light clothing and bring water."

"Haymitch will still be asleep at 9:00," I retort.

"Well then you'll have to get him up, won't you?" he spits back as he looks up briefly, raising his eyebrows slightly at me.

"Fine," I mutter and walk off before my mind comes up with biting remarks and I accidentally say one to him.

**Workout, Day 1: Friday**

We met up at Peeta's house at 9:00 a.m. on the dot. I went to Haymitch's house at 8:30 to get him up and feed him some breakfast, but he was already awake and sitting at the kitchen table when I walked in. He had some bread on a plate, that he was nibbling on, and he was holding onto one of his empty liquor bottles. He was clutching it like he was a woman fighting off labor pains and muttering something to himself that I couldn't quite make out.

Peeta had started working on Tuesday after he came by Haymitch's and verbally bludgeoned us to become Careers. He had been using the gym at school until yesterday when he ran into a squad of Peacekeepers outside of the school who asked him what he was doing there. They must have recognized him and knew he had no reason to be at school anymore.

He came up with a great lie on the spot, as usual, and said that he was helping coach the wrestling team. He told them he used to be on the team, and even placed 2nd in the championships the season before the 74th Hunger Games. He assured them that he was only there for that day's lesson to show them how to do a Crossface Cradle Pin. He started blabbing on and on about pins until they told him it was alright, and to go on home.

So, we decided to workout where the Peacekeepers really had no reason to patrol, the meadow in the Seam.

It was actually the perfect spot to workout too. It had a hill that we could use to run up, and a large, flat area where the grass made the ground just as soft as the mats they had at the school gymnasium. I figured the only thing we would be missing out on now we're dumbbells, but it turns out that Peeta ordered a set from the Capitol for his house in the Victor's Village and they would arrive on Saturday.

"Katniss five more," Peeta said through quick, controlled breaths. When he glanced over at me and saw my shaking arms give out and my body flop to the ground in a thud, he yelled, "Five more! Then we've gotta move on to legs."

"Ugh" is all I manage to croak out, although I'd love to insult him right now. My arms are killing me. Scratch that. My whole body is killing me. We've been working out hard for the past three hours and I am so tired that I feel that if I make another movement, any movement, I may not be able to get back up again. And now Peeta is telling me I have to work out my legs after these torturous push-ups are over. I don't think I can do this everyday with him. Hunting in the woods is one thing, but this...He. Does. Not. Let. Up.

I finish the push-ups and Peeta is already standing, waiting for me to move onto the leg workout he has planned for us. It's clear that he has given up on Haymitch for the day, as Haymitch is laying flat on his back wheezing loudly. _Of course Haymitch is out of shape..the only move he has done for the last twenty-four years is raise his liquor bottle from the kitchen table to his mouth and back down._ He's pathetic.

Peeta shows me some of the moves that he undoubtedly was forced to do over and over when he was a wrestler. _Maybe that's where he gets his bossy little attitude_, I think. He has oddly enough become our coach. A strict coach, much less gentle than how I'm used to seeing him. We end up doing a variety of leg exercises that make my legs as tired and shaky as my arms are.

We move on to "strengthening our core" as Peeta put it. After a few different excercises I feel my abdomen burning, as if my insides were slowly going to start spilling out and the dull burn was going to dissolve my stomach away into nothingness. And these strange, kicking movements on my back didn't seem like they would hurt at first, but they sure do. I start muttering under my breath at Peeta and he just keeps saying "Almost done Katniss. Five more."

At the end of the first workout I hate it. I'd much rather train in the woods, but with that fence on twenty-four hours a day, that is no longer an option. It's just one more loss of freedom that Snow has inflicted on my life. Gale's life too.

Part of me wishes I could workout with Gale instead of Peeta and Haymitch, but I know that will never happen. Gale's work schedule is set at six wretched days, and the hours have been extended since winter. He used to work nine hours but now works twelve. I know that he hates it, and I hate it too, but he has to provide for his family and it's the only way he can.

On our way back to the Victor's Village we pass by my family's old house in the Seam and I almost wonder if I should go grab Buttercup before I see him bolt out of the hedge and run ahead of us towards our new house. I told Peeta that we could store the dumbbells and workout gear in our old house, so it looks like I'll be dropping in on it and Buttercup more often.

As we pass by Gale's house and I resolve to stop in and visit Hazelle and the kids, and Gale if he's there. I stop and tell Peeta and Haymitch that I'll meet up with them later to watch the Games. Peeta stops and looks at me curiously at first before he recognizes the house. Then says a quick "ok" and keeps walking on, catching up with Haymitch who never stopped.

I knock on the door and when it opens I look up at startling silver eyes.

"Hey Catnip," he says with a tired smile. He must have just gotten home from work. "Wanna come in?"

"Okay," I say.

"What have you been doing?" he asks looking me up and down and frowning when he notices the knife in my hand.

"Uh, training," I say and bite my lip.

"Here, let me have that," he says as he takes the knife from my hand and puts it safely away in a high cupboard. "You're gonna scare Posy with that." He finishes with a laugh.

"Sorry. Peeta had knife throwing as Lesson 1," I say mocking Peeta's authoritative tone.

Gale raises an eyebrow, "There are lessons? And Peeta is in charge?" He laughs at that and shakes his head a little.

"Yeah, Trainer Peeta is actually quite bossy," I say and roll my eyes. "He wants us to train to become like the Careers."

"So, you're going to be working out everyday then?"

"I guess so. It's not like we have anything else to do," I say and tilt my head down. This is always where conversations get awkward with Gale now. I don't have to work and now he does. We used to work together to keep our families fed, and now I will be provided for by the Capitol's resources for the rest of my life while he has to work in the mines six days a week, twelve hours a day to barely scrape by enough food for Hazelle and the kids.

"Are you guys going to be doing anything else other than working out?" he asks me.

"Yes, tonight we're going to start watching the Games of the living victors. Peeta asked Effie to send them to us and she assured us they would arrive today."

"Do you want to watch the Games?" he asks me with concern in his face. "I thought.."

"No," I interrupt him. "I don't really want to, but like it or not I'm going back in and this year we have the advantage of knowing who the other tributes are. You know, how they fight, and what they're like."

"Well, it is a good idea," he says. "I'm just surprised Peeta talked you all into doing it, especially Haymitch."

"Yeah, I'm a little worried about Haymitch to be honest," I speak the thoughts that I haven't breathed to a soul yet. "He's sober now and I don't know how he'll handle watching them. I mean, he had to watch dozens of tributes from District 12 get slaught..." I stop as Posy bobs into the room. This isn't a conversation for a little girl her age.

Gale gets her some water and she asks if we will play with her. She's got dolls made of dried grass leaves strung together with beans for eyes and a red string woven through the fibers as a mouth. The doll was a gift from Prim a couple years ago and Posy has been cherishing it ever since. It's the only doll she has ever had.

Gale tells her that he'll come play with her in a second but that I have to go home and eat dinner. He hands me back my knife and hugs me goodbye.

I wash up and eat dinner with my mother and Prim before heading over to Peeta's house with my hair dangling around my shoulders drying. I'm too tired to lift my arms and braid it tonight.

"Which one should we start with," Peeta asks us. "I mean, we could go oldest to youngest victors, or youngest to oldest victors?"

Oh, yeah...Some of the victors from the first Games we have tapes of will be much older than us, and Haymitch for that matter. I'm shocked when I find the first tape is from sixty-two years ago! The label with Effie's immaculate cursive says "Margaret Gage."

"Margaret Gage? Who is that?" I ask.

"It's Mags," Haymitch speaks up. "She's from District 4, and I don't care what order we watch these damn tapes."

Haymitch slumps back in Peeta's couch rubbing his forehead.

"Let's start with the oldest Peeta," I say. "We can watch the Games from oldest to newest to see if any pattern emerges with the arenas or muttations."

"Alright," Peeta says, taking the tape labeled Margaret Gage out of it's pristine white case and settling it into the machine connected to the television.

We only get through the Cornucopia scene before Peeta shuts it off and quietly says that's enough for tonight. The footage of the Cornucopia scene lasts for two hours and mostly follows the action of the bloodbath.

The arena is set in an incredibly wet piece of land that extends for miles and miles. It is filled with strange, thin, bare trees and large pools of murky, brown water that never really seem to stay in one place, but jut around through the tall grass and sneak over rotten, moss-covered logs. The Cornucopia is set up in tiny plot of ground that only extends for a mere two feet around the base of the golden horn. There is a circle of tall, narrow trees that have their base under water and are exactly in the middle of the circle of tributes and the Cornucopia. Unlike last year's Games, the items outside of the horn are not laying on the ground, or floating in the water in the case, but they are tied up to this circle of trees. Two items are on each tree. The first item is of less desirability tied closer to the surface of the water and the second item is tied about four feet higher than the water. The tributes seem to be unsure of how deep the water is, or what lies underneath.

I entertain a brief thought in the final five seconds of the sixty-second countdown that the water itself might not even be safe. Maybe that's why the tributes are wearing thick, slick-looking clothing and high rubber boots.

3...2...1 and they all fly off their platforms and splash into the water. I swallow and watch as six tributes make huge splashes as they run/swim towards the golden horn.

Some of the other tributes are leery of the water and are trying to make as miniature splashes as possible while they head for the objects tied to the trees. I notice there aren't a whole lot of weapons in this arena and I quickly find out why.

One of the tributes arrives at one of the trees in the circle where another tribute is frantically untying the top object. It is a long, curved blade and I cringe as I watch them start punching each other while still untying it. One tribute punches the other and then lifts one foot up towards the tribute's stomach and launches him into the water. As if from no where a large, spiky dark green animal shoots out of the water, opens it's jaws like a pair of scissors and chops down on the fallen tribute. The animal, or muttation, drags the child under the water and thrashes around. Blood flows in every direction and spreads quickly with every thrash. Many of the tributes begin climbing the trees in hopes to stay away from the water monsters. Others get dragged under as well by other dark green creatures. The ones who made it to the Cornucopia stay put but start fighting each other, trying to impale each other with the swords in the Cornucopia or push each other towards the hidden creatures in the water.

From time to time, we see Mags slowly slinking away from the Cornucopia and the water, looking cautiously every which way. She did the complete opposite of every single other tribute by running in the opposite direction of the survival objects.

**Workout Day 2, Saturday:**

We meet at Peeta's house at 9:00 and we're all massaging sore muscles as we groggily mumble greetings at each other. We're tired from the workout and the nightmares. No one has to even mention the nightmares. We know that we all get them and what they were of last night. There's no need to ask, and there's nothing any of us can say or do about them.

The workout starts out very slow this morning. Even Peeta is running slower than yesterday, although he's still working out harder than Haymitch and me today. We start with a light jog around the meadow and Peeta instructs us to follow the routine on his clipboard while he's gone, picking something up from town. I figure he's going to check to see if the dumbbells arrived yet.

Haymitch and I slump down to the ground and look at the clipboard. Peeta has a whole list of workouts for us.

Strengthening Exercise: Reps:

Push-ups

3 sets of 20

Lunges

3 sets of 20

Side Lunges

3 sets of 20

Squats

3 sets of 20

Calf Raises

3 sets of 30

Crunches

3 sets of 100

Bicycle

3 sets of 50

Oblique Crunches

3 sets of 20

Butterfly Kicks

3 sets of 20

Plank

Hold 30 seconds/3 times

We dutifully work on them while Trainer Peeta is gone. I don't want to hear him ordering me around any more than I have to during these workouts. Suddenly our deep breaths aren't the only ones we're hearing.

"Oh no, no, no!" I say to Peeta as I see him carrying a giant bag of flour up the path leading through the Seam to the meadow. He huffed as he threw it in front of Haymitch and me.

"Alright, (breath) today we're gonna (breath) use the bag of (breath) flour too." he says in between quick, deep breaths.

"But you said the dumbbells are coming in today," I half-stated and half-asked.

"Yeah, I know, but you said yourself that you knew I was strong because I could lift these," he smirks at me. "Now it's your turn."

"I think I'd rather just wait for the dumbbells to show up today," I say and slide one eyebrow up at him.

"Katniss, free weights are good for individual muscle strength and definition, but bags of flour will be better for overall muscle mass," he says as his breathing has evened out by now. "And that will be much better for us in the Games." He smiles again when he sees me look down at the bag and back up at him, with a undoubtedly clear "whhhhhhy?" in my eyes. Wait a second.

"Us?" I ask him, trying to fluster that annoying smirk off his face.

"Uh..yeah, you and either Haymitch or me, whichever victor Effie pulls out of the reaping bowl," he replies.

Well, it worked. I wiped that smug, little grin right off his face, but now none of us are smiling. I glance at Haymitch, and I know that both of us are thinking that we don't want Peeta going back into the Games. He's the best one of all of us, and he'd probably be the most useful in the rebellion. It's just not a good idea for him to volunteer. I know it, deep down. I'll do everything I can to save him, of course, I mean that's why Haymitch and I agreed to workout with him, but I can't shake the ominous feeling that we're fighting a battle neither of us will win.

"Katniss didn't do her push-ups," Haymitch suddenly sneered. Boy, he's good at lightening the mood, but did he really have to do so at my expense. _The one exercise I avoided while he was gone_...I cringe as Peeta turns toward me, his eyes bearing down at me with a look of betrayal and disappointment. I look back at Haymitch who is wearing a sideways grin.

"Thanks a lot, Haysnitch," I hiss back at him.

We spend the rest of the workout lifting the heavy bag of flour up and down, and then throwing it as far as we can. My throws are miserable compared to Peeta's. He chuckles every time I throw it, because it literally lands mere feet away from where I stand. When Peeta throws it he makes it seem effortless, and the bag goes way beyond the extent of my throws. Haymitch's throws don't extend too far beyond mine. We start digging little lines in the grass to mark a throwing line and then we use rocks to measure how far we are able to throw the bag.

After the workout is over and we eat lunch Haymitch and I ask Trainer Peeta what we'll be doing the rest of the day.

"Well, I thought since Katniss spent so much time in trees during the last Games we could all learn how to climb them properly. That is, if you'll teach us?" Peeta asks.

"Of course," I say. "But I doubt you'll be able to get as high as I can. You're too heavy." I look at Haymitch specifically when I say that last part.

"Are you calling me fat?" Haymitch asks.

I teach Haymitch first since it will be easiest for him to maneuver around the branches than Peeta with his prosthetic leg. Some of the branches break under his weight, but he's actually much more nimble than I anticipated. _What does Haymitch know how to do?_

Next on deck is Peeta, who presents a little more of a challenge with his prosthetic not allowing him to twist his foot the way he wants. He has pretty good control overall though and at the end of the lesson I'm convinced he could climb away from a heavy Career if the occasion called for it.

We walk back slowly into town, dragging our feet before we pick them up and letting them fall back down again. Lift leg, extend it in front, set foot on ground. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Peeta is carrying the absurdly large bag of flour that we unfortunately ripped a hole in through the workout. So with every step a little puff of flour catches the sweaty skin of his arms. Sometimes he catches me glancing at the ivory paste forming on his skin and sticking to his clothes, and I try to suppress my smirk.

As we get deeper into Town, I see a thin, blonde figure slide out of the Mayor's house and recognize Madge coming down the steps of the wide porch towards us.

"What are you all doing?" Madge asks us with a bewildered look gracing her porcelain face.

Maybe she thinks we've all lost our marbles. Maybe we all have and just don't realize how ridiculous we must look to everyone in the District.

She looks Peeta up and down and giggles a little. He stares up at her and then fixes his gaze on me when I start laughing at his embarrassment. He had looked as if he was going to set the bag down while we chatted, but our teasing laughs must have gotten the better of him, and we see him suddenly turn and walk further on towards his family's bakery.

"We're getting ready for swimsuit season," I say jokingly, because you never know who is watching us or listening to our conversations. We haven't gotten in trouble yet and we'd all like to keep it that way.

"Ha, as if you could catch me in one of those," Haymitch says with indignation.

"Yeah, with your beer belly no one would wanna see you in that anyways," Madge says.

I burst out in laughter, partly because of the vision now invading my mind of Haymitch in swim trunks, belly protruding slightly over the side, and in part because it was Madge of all people who just said that.

Haymitch just glares at me and mutters something under his breath.

"No, but really, what are you guys doing out there?" Madge asks us. "Isn't it...dangerous to train? I thought it was forbidden."

"Yeah, technically it is, but at this point I don't think anyone cares about us training," I say.

"Are you going to train everyday?" Madge asks.

"Yeah, I mean, there's not a whole lot else to do anyways," I tell her.

"Can I help?" Madge asks sweetly.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Haymitch says. "While no one from the District may report us, it's still possible that Peacekeepers will see us one day and then we'll all be in trouble. I can't let that happen to you."

Madge nods her head slightly, bites her bottom lip, and looks down. We say goodbye, and head the rest of the way home to our little village. As I walk in the door to my house I smell mouth-watering wafts of chicken, rice, sautéed vegetables, and a distinct smell of chocolate coming from the kitchen. I walk over to the kitchen and find my mother and Prim working hard at this unexpected dinner. Unexpected and large. This is too much food. Why are they cooking so much food?

"Mother...Prim...what is all this?" I ask.

"Duhh...it's dinner Katniss," my sister says as if I'm two years old.

If that same comment had sprung out of my mouth I'm sure it would have sounded condescending, but the way Prim said it was sweet, and innocent. She reminds me of that little girl who always wiped my father's mirror clean from the coal dust every night.

And now as I'm thinking back on those memories I'm struck with those feelings of emptiness. Emotional and physical emptiness. Suddenly, this food makes me feel guilty. It may not be winter anymore but people all throughout the Seam are still starving, their bodies slowly feeding off of whatever is left in their withered bodies, desperate to cling onto whatever nourishment they can scavenge.

It isn't right to have this much food when others are starving. It isn't right that they are given promises of food and left with only empty bellies. More people have died this year than in many combined, previous years, all because there wasn't enough food. And here, well, just look at all this food!

"Mother, why did you make so much?" I ask.

I'm staring wide-eyed at all the food, shock still registering as I take it all in, and my mother must see the concern behind my eyes. "Katniss, it's a good idea for you all to train, but believe me, your workouts will use a lot of your energy. You need to replenish your body every day."

"Still, can't we give some of this away?" wanting to rid myself of this feeling of guilt.

"We thought you could invite Peeta and Haymitch?" Prim says with her forehead scrunched up in hopefulness and big blue eyes looking up at me.

Gosh Prim, not the puppy face. Well, I just won't look at her then.

I don't want to eat dinner with Peeta and Haymitch. I've been with them all day and we are already planning on meeting again after dinner. Haymitch is still surly from his lack of alcohol induced stupor, and Peeta..well, things between Peeta and are are just awkward now. It feels different from the time we spent in my room working on my family's plant book.

I look down at the food again, hoping to find something I can give to someone in need, someone other than Peeta and Haymitch when my eyes fall on a basket of plump rolls. Cheese rolls from none other than Peeta Mellark.

Guilt rings through me. Peeta brings my family and me bread all the time. He has always shared what he had with me. Dangit.

_I am doing this for Peeta after all_, I think to myself. _If I'm stronger and well fed I might be able to protect him longer, and better_.

"Alright, I'll clean up and then I'll go invite them." I tell her. Prim's face lights up and my mother smiles a small smile. Prim is still a little leery of Haymitch in his current sober state, but she loves being around Peeta. He always knows how to make her giggle and smile.

After I shower I throw on some sweatpants and a loose t-shirt and walk over to Peeta's house. I open his door and step inside. I hear the refrigerator door open and close, and so I walk towards the kitchen.

Holy!

There he is standing in the kitchen gulping down milk, straight from the container, wearing only a white towel wrapped around his waist.

I flush instantly and it's not at the sight of his prosthetic leg. I've seen him half naked before, but he was nearly dead, severely malnourished and dehydrated. All of his muscles had begun dwindling away. Now as he stands there looking at me and wiping his lips of the leftover milk with his forearm, my eyes make an embarrassing sweep of his upper body. His arms are as big as they were when he wrestled in high school, and his toned chest and abs are staring me in the face.

_You could do a lot worse_ suddenly runs through my head and I shake it with the tiniest movement possible. Nope, not a good thought to have right now. Focus. You are here for a reason, yes? Yes, to invite his pecs to dinner. I mean him. Invite him to dinner.

I clear my throat. "My family would like to invite you and Haymitch to dinner tonight."

"Really?" he asks as if he's stunned at the offer. "Well, ok. Can I bring anything?"

"We're already using your rolls," I say.

"Oh, ok. What time should I be there?" Peeta asks.

"Now, just come on over," I say. "I mean, put a shirt on and come over.

"Just a shirt?" he says as he smugly lifts one eyebrow.

"Pants too," I say quickly, regretting Prim and my mother talking me into inviting him. "Just put some clothes on and get over there!" I turn on my heel and walk out quickly.

I go to Haymitch's next and find him asleep at the kitchen table. I wake him up and practically drag him over to my house. He must not be sleeping through the night yet if he is this exhausted. He can barely keep his eyes open.

When we walk towards the dining room we find Peeta sitting opposite my normal seat with an empty chair next to him. I direct a heavy-lidded Haymitch to the seat by Peeta and go to the kitchen to help Prim and my mom bring out the food.

Haymitch, Peeta, and I eat a remarkably, large portion of food. I guess my mother was right, we are going to need to eat a lot of food. She notices and starts chattering about specific foods we should eat and says that Haymitch and Peeta are welcome over for dinner anytime they want.

After dinner we go over to Peeta's house to watch the next part of Mag's Hunger Games. Haymitch tells us more about Mags' personality. I ask how old she is now and he tells us that she is eighty years old and walks with a cane.

I don't know very much about Mags, but I already know that I hope she doesn't get reaped. I don't ask any more questions that night and neither does Peeta, although he takes a lot more notes than the first night.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" I yawn as I stretch out on Peeta's couch.

"We've got a surprise visitor coming tomorrow," Peeta replies.

And that's all I get out of him. Who's coming tomorrow? Ugh..and what is that person going to make us do?

**I started this story on a Tuesday because I figured that Prim came home from school and mentioned the mandatory viewing on a Monday. Also, starting the story early in the week gave me more days to work with for the first chapter. Please review and tell me if you want me to keep going with this. It's meant to be a light comedy, and I'm trying to work on weaving in as many funny moments as possible, but I am open to suggestions ;)**


	2. Namaste

**AN: Thank you to everyone who favorite-d this story or me! Wow, took my breath away that you guys would do that after only one chapter. I'm speechless. Also, a big thanks to etf1975, AreYouGame, and lovelifepeace2000 for reviewing the first chapter! I'm glad to have such positive feedback right out of the gate.**

**Anything that you recognize is from Suzanne Collin's **_**The Hunger Games**_** trilogy. Italics indicate internal monologues or dreams. Line breaks signal a switch in POV. Each chapter equals a week of workouts, training, eating, preparing for the Quarter Quell, etc. Thanks for your patience on the second chapter. I hope you all enjoy!**

**Workout Day 3, Sunday:**

"Ahhh," I wake up with little fingers massaging the middle of my back.

"Good morning, Katniss," Prim giggles, massaging my back coaxing me awake with pain and relief. "I thought your muscles might be sore."

"Yeah..." I breathed into the pillow that I had smashed my face into. "Thanks, little duck."

_Ugh, my voice sounds like a duck. I hate how I sound in the morning._

Prim massages my entire back, followed by my shoulders, and then rolls the muscles in my arms like she's making gingerbread snaps.

She likes making cookies now that we can buy the ingredients for baked goods, and she especially likes ginger snaps. Although, I can't say why she favors those cookies. Sometimes I catch Peeta helping her bake new cookies when he comes over to drop off fresh bread or cheese buns.

I give little "oohs" and "aahs" so Prim knows I appreciate her being my masseuse. My muscles have actually been pretty sore since we started. It's funny. I thought I was in pretty decent shape, but the workouts never fail to leave me stiff and languid for the rest of the day.

I walk over to Peeta's house and find Peeta and Haymitch both standing in front of the steps to Peeta's front porch. They are polar opposites of each other in the morning: Peeta bouncing on his heels, rocking his head side to side loosening the muscles in his neck, making conversation, and Haymitch's eyes drooping, shoulders slouching ever so slightly, not making conversation.

Peeta looks up at me, bright spheres of baby blue that match the sky of a perfect summer day and emit a calming effect I never encountered in any Seam eyes beyond Prim's.

Most of us all looked the same, olive skin, dark hair, and gray eyes. Most of the people in Town looked the same too; pale skin, light hair, and blue eyes. Like a clash of weather conditions, our eyes divided our social classes as much as our other features. My own family mirroring the division more than any other family I have seen, my father and I looked like the Seam, while my mother and Prim looked like the Town.

Maybe that's why I was one of the only people in school that was close to people from both sides. The division others maintained held no meaning for me.

Madge felt the same way I did, and I always respected her for that, especially since she is the Mayor's daughter. People from Town sometimes whispered about us when they walked by us in the cafeteria, but neither of us cared.

"Ready to go?" Peeta breaks me from my thoughts.

"Sure," I say. "Do we get to know now who are visitor is going to be?" I was half-expecting the visitor to meet us here.

"You'll see soon enough," Peeta says with a disconcerting look on his face.

"If this trainer is anything unlike you count me in," Haymitch grumbles.

"You just earned yourself an extra 10 push-ups tomorrow," Peeta pats his shoulder, and raises his eyebrows at him, and then at me, daring me to say something too.

_Nu-uh. I hate push-ups more than anything else in our workout routine._ I let out a small laugh at the ground because Haymitch and Peeta seem to be battling for top mentor, but decide to keep my mouth shut, although I doubt Peeta is serious about the extra push-ups.

When we get to the meadow Peeta starts us off in a light jog to "limber us up" he says. It's early in the day, but the Earth is heating up fast since summer is nearly upon us. Little beads of sweat begin to form on our foreheads from the jog and heat, and afterwards we shade ourselves under our big champion oak tree.

Peeta said it was good luck for us to climb a champion oak during training. When he directs us towards it he calls it the "Katniss tree." I rolled my eyes at him the first time he said that, but he insisted that whoever climbed the champion oak the best should have the tree labeled after them.

After we get a drink of water, Peeta has us warm up our arms by raising both our arms directly away from our bodies, one arm jutting out on each side of our body in a 90-degree angle. Peeta is standing in front of us demonstrating the circular and back and forth movements that make our shoulders crack occasionally.

He rolls his eyes Haymitch and I because we keep accidentally bumping our hands together, and then glare at each other for the interruptions. Eventually this turns into a 'who can slap each other's hand the fastest' contest. Peeta sighs at us, disenchanted when we don't take things as seriously as he does.

I feel a tap, tap on my shoulder from behind me. _Huh?_

I twirl around, arms still out past my sides, and nearly whack Gale with my circling left arm. "Jeez, Gale" I jump a little when I see him, and I notice a long box resting by his feet. "I didn't hear you."

"As usual," he laughs.

Gale is the last person I expected for our visitor today. He definitely dislikes Peeta, and Peeta dislikes him. _Wait, he is our visitor right? _Haymitch and I share a confused glance, and turn towards Peeta, both of us raising our eyebrows at him in inquiry.

I guess Peeta already knew Gale was going to be our visitor today since he gives him a polite nod, to which Gale nods as well. _Hmm, a truce...?_

I wonder if Gale asked Peeta if he could come, or if it was the other way around? Nah, Peeta for sure asked Gale, because I know that Gale would not ask him if he could show up. Gale just would.

What is he going to do while he's here though? I find it hard to imagine him working out with all of us, even if he does want to spend his Sundays with me still.

He's got no love for Haymitch or Peeta. I know he was grateful for what they did for him after during and after whipping, but he can't get over the role they played in creating new roles for both of us. Their good-intentions downsized him to being my 'cousin' and kept me locked into a relationship with Peeta. I can't blame him for that bothering him because it bothers me too.

Gale swoops his eyes around my flushed face, enveloped in little beads of sweat, and chuckles to himself. He had seen me sweaty before, but it was always when we were hunting in the summer heat, climbing trees for eggs or honey, or the rare occasions where we brought down a large animal, like a deer, and had to carry it to the Hob together.

He glances at Peeta who is finishing up a long set of pushups and breathing hard. I smile discreetly. _I'm glad he didn't make me do any pushups._ His red face contrasts sharply with his pale, white skin. Gale chuckles slightly at him too, and almost imperceptibly shakes his head.

Lastly, his gaze lands on an extremely winded Haymitch, whose red face and muttered curses would illustrate a hard workout if you didn't know him to be as pitifully out of shape as Peeta and I know him to be. But to us it was clear that he was going through withdrawals still, so we didn't razz him too much. Not yet. We had only started working out last Friday.

Gale scratches the side of his face and awkwardly asks Peeta "Well, should we get started?"

I bite the inside of my cheek. Started with what?

"Yeah, let's get started," Peeta replies.

Gale opens the flaps of the box and I peer inside. I laugh, why didn't I see that coming?

Inside the box Gale has a diverse array of branches, twigs, long blades of grass, and other things I recognize as some of the items Gale used to teach me my first set of snares.

"Ohh, trap day," I say and smile up at him. He smiles back at me. Maybe we'll be able to keep one of our Sunday traditions alive still. He holds my gaze for a moment longer before taking all the things out of the box and organizing them on the ground.

He teaches us, well more so Peeta and Haymitch, how to make the most elementary snares he knows from items we are most likely to find in the Arena.

After Peeta makes his first successful trap, he throws it in front of my feet but I leap away from it just in time.

Gale laughs. "Peeta-0."

"What?" I ask.

"Peeta-0, Gale-0," Peeta replies.

"What?" I ask again, slightly irritated. They're competing over something else now?

"Gale-1," Gale says smugly.

"Nah, that didn't count," Peeta replies fast as lightning.

"I wasn't talking about today," Gale says.

Peeta narrows his eyes for a brief moment and then relaxes them. "You know the rules," he says.

"Fine, 0-0," Gale concedes.

"What are you guys talking about!" I say louder than I meant to.

Before either of them get a chance to answer, both of their heads twist and stare at something. I turn around to see what they're looking at when I see Madge walking towards us from the dirt path.

"Did you bring in two surprise visitors today, Peeta?" I ask.

"No, I didn't know she was coming," he says.

"Neither did I," Haymitch says accusingly at me. What did I do wrong? What's wrong with Madge coming?

I think back to the last thing he told her: "I can't let that happen to you" he said about the danger of the Peacekeepers finding her helping us. _Why is he so protective of Madge?_

I tut-tut at Haymitch while I point a finger at my chest and raise my eyebrows in question. What is he accusing me of?

I roll my eyes at him and turn towards Peeta. "I guess you were being prophetic then huh, Peeta?" I say, quirking my eyebrows up at him.

He glances at me for a second, twitching up the corner of his lips in a small half smile before directing his attention back to Madge.

Madge interrupts our poor manners. "Hello everyone. I didn't mean to interrupt your training, I just wanted to bring you all my father's newspaper," Madge says.

"What?" I ask her, confused why we would need an extra newspaper. After I became a victor my mother subscribed to the District newspaper, although we only get the Sunday edition. I can't really see a need for an extra newspaper, unless she wants to donate it to Buttercup's litter box.

"It's from the Capitol," Madge says. "My father gets a special edition every Sunday and a mid-week edition on Wednesday. I could bring them by after he's done reading them. If you all would like to read them?"

"May I see that?" Peeta asks.

She hands it over to him, "Of course," she smiles.

My mother raised Prim and me to be well-mannered, but in the Seam you get teasing looks if you use words like "may" or "pardon me." "Can" and "excuse me" work just fine to Seam ears. So it's strange to hear Peeta use the word "may" in such a casual context.

I suddenly recall Effie's words: "What wonderful manners you have, Peeta. Your mother raised you properly. I always find it uncivilized when the tributes from District 12 reach across the table instead of asking"

When she said that to him I saw his shoulder muscles tense up, but he simply said, "Thank you, Effie. She always instilled good manners in me and my brothers."

Effie always gets under my skin with her annoying bubbly-ness, but that was the first moment I wanted to smack her. Especially since she kept berating us after Peeta's statment. It was as if she believed good manners needed continual lectures to maintain them.

I stilled my thoughts to lash out at her though. Her mother probably instilled those lectures in her, and now she's just continuing the cycle. I really hated her calling the children in my District "uncivilized" though. As if _we_ were the barbarians of Panem. How differently the Capitol and District citizens see each other...

Laughter brings me out of my angry haze. "Haymitch, what are you doing?" says Madge, letting out a new round of laughter when he falls flat on his butt. _What did I miss?_

"It's called yoga," Haymitch says feigning an offended tone.

"That's not yoga!" Madge says and laughs again.

"Oh yeah?" Haymitch questions. "How would you know?"

"Because I took a yoga class last summer," she says with a smile.

"Where?" I ask her.

"In Town," she says sheepishly. "I could give you guys a lesson or two if you would like?"

"What is yoga?" Peeta asks, probably worrying it will be of little importance to our preparation since Haymitch isn't winded, but that's probably because he executed it so poorly. Right? Come to think of it, I have no clue what yoga is either. How does Haymitch know about it? _What does he know how to do?_ I wonder again.

"It's a workout that people did in ancient times," she begins explaining. "It has slow-paced movements that combine stretching, endurance, and strengthening of muscles."

"No wonder Haymitch knows about it," I laugh. He narrows his eyes at me. How bad must he want a drink right now?

"Alright, we'll give it a try," Peeta says. "Do you want to come by tomorrow and teach us?

"Yes, that would be great," Madge says, clasping her hands together and smiling. "I would love to help."

Now he's got Madge too. Me, Haymitch, Gale, and Madge are doing whatever he asks us to do. Oh, and let's not forget, my mother is happily preparing community dinners for him and Haymitch, and Prim is now our team masseuse. Man, he's good with words.

_Yes, Trainer Peeta. Whatever you say, Trainer Peeta._

Gale's POV

Dinner was so good that I almost felt like I was dreaming. I had forgotten what it felt like to be completely full. I felt a little bad at how much I ate though. I out ate both Peeta and Haymitch. Nah, I don't feel too bad. They're victors, so they can get as much food as they need, while it's hard for me and my mom to provide enough food for the kids let alone ourselves. Rory, Vick, and Posy, three kids all in the middle of growth spurts.

After dessert at the Everdeens, Peeta invites me over to his house to watch the Games with them.

When we sit down on Peeta's couch Katniss sits by Peeta who is off towards the left side of the couch, and Gale sits at the right side of the couch.

They're watching the Games of some girl they keep calling Mags. I keep glancing over at Katniss. Partly because I hate watching the Games more than any other activity in the District, but mostly because Sunday is my only real day to spend with Katniss, and I don't want this day to end, even if it has not been what I would like to be doing with her...

Katniss looks sick every time Haymitch gives a tidbit about Mags' personality, but I don't know why. Mags seems to be pretty clever, and she's not afraid of a fight either. No wonder she won.

Maybe that's why Katniss is acting like this. She shouldn't though. Katniss won the last Games and she can do it again. I know she can. She's intelligent and strong, and she knows how to survive better than anyone else I know. Or maybe I'm just biased. I'm sure some of these other victors struggled to survive as well, at least the ones who didn't come from the wealthier Districts.

Occasionally she looks over Peeta's shoulder at his notes.

"What kind of a student were you?" Katniss asks Peeta.

"Eh, I did well enough to pass, but not that well," he says.

She huffs at him in disbelief. "Sure you did," she says, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Really," he says seriously.

Her eyebrows scrunch. She clearly doesn't believe him, and she glances back and forth from his notes to his face a couple times. "You could've fooled me."

"I was more interested in other topics," he says, looking at her meaningfully.

I wish he'd cut that out. Doesn't he realize she chose me, not him? He should try to get over her. I mean does he really want to suffer more with her unrequited love. It no longer matters for them to be "engaged" anymore. Snow probably realized that showing them as lovers was a useless measure to still the uprisings in the Districts.

But her eyes are locked on his too. Does she have any idea how much I hate it when they stare at each other?

_Of course she doesn't. She's oblivious as usual._

"And sometimes I thought it wasn't so bad..." he waits letting his words sink in slowly, "but you know the people there...I didn't want to become a piece in their games." he emphasizes the word people, and she seems to understand something that neither Haymitch nor I understand.

He continues, "And sometimes I didn't know what I would do, so I started sketching."

They're both staring intently at each other still. Do they understand each other on some unspoken level like Katniss and me? Or are they speaking in code? Wait, why would they speak in code in Peeta's house? Does Peeta not want Haymitch and me to know what they're talking about?

My mind flies to the possibility that he's talking about Katniss. "interested in other topics" _yeah, Katniss is probably the "other topics"_... "you know the people there" _ok, it's a stretch but he could still be talking about Katniss_. But he mentioned others. "I didn't want to become a piece of their games" _ok, maybe that means the rumor mill?_ No one wants to be part of that. Gossip took flight like a bat of hell in our school.

Ok, so maybe he's talking about more than just Katniss. Besides she's looking at him like they've had this conversation before. Why can't I figure this out?

Then Katniss opens her mouth, but shuts it quickly, purses her lips, and looks around the room.

Damn, that's right. Katniss mentioned the listening devices...

I wonder if they've got any other devices in these houses. I mean, these people are the ones who create the muttations. They've got pretty sick minds, so I wouldn't put it past them to hide other creepy things in here...How do they stand living in these houses?

But then she speaks up. "I guess that's when you became so wise huh?" she smiles a small smile at him, and he returns it with a sigh. They're still looking into each other's eyes.

_Alright, that's enough gazing into each other's eyes. Time to end the staring contest._

I put my arm around the back of the couch and let my fingers graze her arm. They both settle back into the couch and glue their eyes to the television screen again.

_Good, it worked_.

She doesn't seem to mind the contact, so I continue stroking her arm until I am eventually drawing little patterns on her arm.

We have been watching the Games over at Peeta's now for several long hours. Every once in a while being forced to watch some child I never knew die.

Eventually, Katniss falls asleep and to my surprise and exasperation, she slowly tumbles over towards Peeta.

She was so still before that when she falls my mind registers it disconcertedly.

_Nooo_.

Peeta's shoulder catches her body's descent, and she sinks into him.

She's asleep on his shoulder, not mine. I feel desperate to go back in time and pull her over towards me. How could I have let this happen? How could she?

Peeta looks down at her too and then his eyes shift upwards to meet mine. His face is an odd mixture for the incredibleness she is bestowing on him. And not me. I hate him.

I clench my teeth together sharply making my face hard, pouring in all the rage I felt from the Games last year, and glare at him.

"Peeta, why isn't the train moving?" she mumbles. My eyes instantly go wide. It was barely intelligible because she's half-asleep, but I heard it. Everyone in the room heard it. And now all eyes are locked on me.

My thoughts are flying like darts, and I am now fuming on the inside. Train? They were asleep on the train...together? She said they had their own rooms...

My stomach drops to the pit reserved for special anguish, and my heartbeat slows. I barely breathe and my eyes suddenly see nothing. My mouth opens slightly, showing just the tips of my teeth. They sleep...together. Does that mean they've slept together? She wouldn't...would she?

My eyes refocus on her. She looks so comfortable sleeping on him. She's even curling around him, like leaves stretching towards the sun to drink in as much light as they can.

Peeta looks up at me, sadness in his eyes.

Why the hell is he sad? I'd kill for her to be doing that on me right now!

I glare at him, he may be her fiancé in public but I should be hers in private. She chose me. This should be my private moment with her. My territory.

But his eyes soften as he looks down at her, and then back at me. He quickly raises his eyebrows at me like he's asking me to do something.

My glare stretches into confusion. "What?" I snap louder than I meant to. Oh hell, what am I thinking? Of course I don't care if she wakes up.

I just want her to wake up on me...I want her to look up at me with sleepy eyes. Not him...He already had the cave, and apparently the train. I have never had her fall asleep on me, sleep talk to me, and wake up on me...All I had was a few hours with her asleep next to me while I was half dead.

I wish I remembered more of that night, but all I remember was her briefly kissing me, telling me she was going to stay in the District with me, and lacing her fingers with mine before the drugs overtook me.

The worst part about not remembering much about that moment with Katniss was waking up and finding out she was gone. Peeta had replaced her, and I couldn't think of a person I loathed more in the whole world in that moment. Except, maybe Thread.

"Take her," he says, much softer than my outburst.

I blink my eyes in shock and my eyebrows jut together. What? Take her? He doesn't want her?

He helps slide her over to me without waking her up, and I pull her in close to my body and smile. I start stroking her arm again, and then her hair. If only I could keep her next to me all night...on a train...

_I'm finally making up for lost time. And I'm definitely going to win the bet too. Mellark is going down._

Peeta's POV

Gale's looking down at her like this is the first time he's ever seen her, like she's a newborn baby. His newfound wonderment at her sleeping on him is a little comical, since I'm now comparing all the times I shared a bed with her, and this is presumably his first time holding her while she sleeps.

Too bad I had to hand over the 'already asleep on me' Katniss so he could enjoy this moment with her.

But I knew I couldn't let her sleep on me with him sitting there watching us, pining over her. I don't like him, but I know they love each other. I don't know if she's told him that yet, or if he's told her, but it was painfully obvious to everyone after he got whipped.

When I saw them lying there together

It's not right for me to steal their time together. I won't take any of it away from them anymore. I've already taken her first kiss, inadvertently made him into her cousin, and proposed to her all while I knew that she had something with him. When I see them together I feel like the scum of the Earth. I took so much joy away from her, so many firsts happened with me and I knew they both wanted to have those experiences together first. I stole from them, and I continue to everyday that I'm alive. She has to come out of the Quell. I have to give her back what I stole. I have to right my wrong. I will get her back here, back to him...

If anyone is coming back at all this year, it's her.

**Workout Day 4, Monday:**

Madge meets Katniss, Haymitch, and me in the meadow right after we get done with our warm-up jog and she gets us all into formation. She takes the lead, facing us, while the rest of us stand in a line carefully watching every move she makes and trying our best to imitate it. We probably look more like a line of idiots than a line of yoga pupils.

Madge is actually a pretty good instructor, although I'm not sure if we'll ever do yoga again. It doesn't seem very physically demanding and we all need to get into our best shape possible.

Haymitch loses balance during a yoga move Madge is showing us, where you balance on one leg and form an uppercase T with your body. He bowls over, crashing into Katniss. Then Katniss crashes into me.

_She's touching me. Focus.._. She's crushing my prosthetic leg, and the pressure makes my leg hurt where it joins with the prosthesis. _Ok...focus on that. Don't think about how close her warm body..Focus!_

Katniss pushes herself off of me and then quickly shoves Haymitch off of her. Next thing you know she sends Haymitch to the back of the class, which is essentially just a couple feet behind us.

We move into a new pose, and Madge laughs at Katniss.

"Katniss, that's not right," Madge says. She comes over and swats her knee. "You have to stretch your leg out straight, don't bend your knee."

Then we move into a pose where we are supposed to resemble a mountain. We are on our hands and feet with our fundaments sticking into the air. _This is a workout?_

I look back at Haymitch, and see that he is now fast asleep, sprawled out on the ground. Great.

Madge shows us a new move where you start by laying down on your stomach with your feet together. Then you place both of your hands under your shoulders and push your upper body into the air while you keep your lower body close to the ground. I feel like a seal. I look over at Katniss to confirm that we do in fact look like seals, since I can't see myself.

_Wow...Katniss looks...well not like a seal...stop looking at her! You're going to freak her out if she catches you looking at her._

We segue into "mountain" again, and I sneak a look at her. She looks back at me, noticing me staring at her.

Smooth...Now she knows you're looking at her...look away. Just focus on this silly yoga.

Next Madge instructs us to stand up, turn to the left, spread our legs apart past shoulder width, and then bend our upper bodies until we're at a 90-degree angle. I am now staring at Katniss' derriere, mere feet away from her.

_Thanks Madge. This is really going to help me stay focused._

Ok, just look away. Or look down. Look up? Just don't stare at her curves...

This is not a good moment for _that_ to happen.

Madge tells us to stay in that pose, while extending our arms straight forward, making our upper body into an even line. I look at her, positive that she must be joking. No, she's holding her arms out in front of her, forming what looks like a "7."

I bite my lip and do the same. Ok focus on the pain in my lips. _My fingers are inches away from touching Katniss'...No! If she knew what you were thinking right now..._I exhale audibly, and hate myself for it.

Madge tells us to reach further out as if we were trying to grasp something just out of our reach.

_Seriously Madge? Do you have any idea what you are doing to me?_

Gulp. Stop. I bite my lip again, this time harder than the first time.

"Peeta you're bleeding!"

"Where?" I ask and look down my eyes big. She and Madge had turned back to a forward standing position and I was still reaching towards Katniss. How embarrassing.

Now she's touching me and I snap my body up. This startles her a little, but then she grabs one side of my face and lifts her other hand towards my lips. _Is this a dream?_

_Ow. Nope not a dream._

She pulls the fabric of her sleeve over the hand closest to my lips and is now wiping my chin and lip with her fabric covered hand. I must have unconsciously made a cut in my bottom lip.

_Mm, it's not a dream..._She's not very gentle, but I don't care.

_She's touching my lips. Katniss is touching my lips._ And she's standing so close to me. Her other hand is still cupping my cheek, and I can feel her hot breath fan over my face. My eyes glide over her face quickly. She's sweating a little. And her hair. Her hair is loosely tied in her braid and sticking out in different directions.

Dammit. I lost the battle.

"Why don't we break for lunch?" I say and move away quickly. I walk towards the Katniss tree and adjust my shirt, though its really unnecessary, and then my shorts, though that is necessary.

Katniss' POV

At lunch Haymitch says, "I want to do yoga everyday."

"Why? So you can sleep through half the workout?" Peeta mocks.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that, boy," he says.

Peeta's cheeks redden and he steals a glance at me. Then I blush, but I don't really know why.

"Yoga is very good for your body," Madge chimes in.

Phew saved. I don't think anyone knew how to work his or her way out of that conversation.

"Just wait and see," she continues. "Tomorrow you'll probably be sore in places you're not usually sore. Yoga uses a great deal of the muscles in your body, especially ones that aren't used to being worked out."

Peeta thinks it over for a few moments. "Alright, we can do yoga once a week."

He glances at me and then flicks his eyes away.

After lunch, Madge leaves and Peeta takes us through Lesson 2 of knife practice. You would think that for all the time Haymitch keeps a knife around he could actually hit something with it. It's clear with a few throws that he hasn't hit anything with his knife in a long time, well anything he intended to hit at least.

We have dinner together after we clean up as usual, but today it's sans Gale. When my mom serves a cake that Peeta baked for us after dinner, Prim enthusiastically tells Peeta about my recent cake baking exploits, and how I failed miserably.

"Thanks a lot, little duck," I say teasingly. "You're just as bad as Haysnitch."

Haymitch and Prim look at each other and smile. It is obvious to everyone that Trainer Peeta has taken the leadership role in our trio, despite the occasional bickering from Haymitch. And Haymitch and Prim seem to find it funny to poke fun at Peeta and me. Haymitch ratted me out last week for not doing my push-ups, and now Prim is ratting me out about not being able to bake a cake. I wonder what will be next.

While we indulge in Peeta's cake, we all start rubbing various muscles until Prim sets down her fork, and comes and massages my shoulders. Next, she walks over to Peeta, who sets down his tea and straightens up for her, ooh-ing and ahh-ing occasionally. Prim giggles and Peeta taps her hand gently to let her know that she can move on. Lastly she goes over towards Haymitch, but he puts a hand up and dismisses her.

"No, thanks Prim," he says picking at his dessert and not looking at her.

Prim gets behind him anyways and starts massaging his shoulders. He hunches over the table to get away from her small hand's reach.

She surprises him when she says, "Sit up straight" with a much more authoritative voice than I thought could be managed by my thirteen year old sister. He pff's at her, but straightens up after a couple seconds.

She looks over at me and rolls her eyes. I let out a small laugh and keep my eyes down at my dessert so as to not to meet Haymitch's glare.

All that time spent helping my mother care for people who were injured by the Peacekeepers has made Prim so much stronger than I have ever been around pain. The pains of the Districts nearly made me runaway and take everyone I loved with me; but when I look at Prim even managing to coax Haymitch into oblivion with her masseuse skills, I think that she has become a better person in spite of all the pain she encounters as a healer. I admire her for that.

**Workout Day 5, Tuesday:**

I slow my pace until my back is hunched over and my hands are resting on my knees. _I'm not stopping. Just taking a break._

Thwap! I shoot straight up and take in a surprised breath.

"Peeta!" I say while rubbing my rear end.

"Come on Katniss," Peeta says calmly as he jogs past me. "We're almost done."

I start jogging again, but keeping several feet away from the reach of his arm. "Was that really necessary?" I ask annoyed.

"I'm not going to let you become like Haymitch," he states.

"Hey..." I say, and at the same time Haymitch snarls "Hey now, boy..."

I don't like my fitness level equated to Haymitch's level, and Haymitch doesn't like the insinuation that he's pathetic.

But I now see an opening to shift attention onto Peeta and Haymitch and quickly take advantage. "I don't see you spanking him," I challenge.

"You do, you die," Haymitch says looking square into Peeta's eyes.

Peeta exchanges a glance with me, and smiles. "Don't worry, old man. I wouldn't dream of it."

After we finish jogging, Peeta and I start lifting weights while Haymitch lays on the ground panting hard.

After lifting weights, Peeta makes Haymitch and I follow the routine he gave us last week. I don't do my push-ups and make sure to avoid Peeta's eyes. _Maybe he won't notice_.

After lunch Peeta decides to open up the package that we received from Effie yesterday. The box read: "Please open together." So we waited until today to open it.

I don't have high hopes for what she sent us. But maybe it will be some sort of Capitol snack food. They certainly know how to do food there.

Instead of something tasty, we find matching gold shorts and red t-shirts. Seriously? Is she really keeping up with this whole matching outfit thing they made Peeta and me do during last year's training before the 74th Games?

"I'm not wearing this" I spit out.

"No way in hell," Haymitch says.

Peeta laughs lightly and sets the box of useless clothes down. This is one present that will go unused.

After dinner and dessert tonight we start in on a new victor's Games, since we just finished Mags' Games last night.

We move onto a tape labeled "Gabriel Mokley." After we had decided to proceed in chronological order, we spent some time labeling the year that each victor won the Games. His Games is the year after Mags' Games.

Just like Mags, I don't remember anything about Gabriel's games from the "Top Replays" the Capitol plays every year in between the Games. Haymitch tells me that he goes by 'Gabe' amongst the victors, and that he keeps to himself. He doesn't speak, unless it seems of great importance to him.

_Well I guess that explains why I don't remember him in any interviews_.

Peeta hesitates a little on pushing play, and I know why. It's incredibly disturbing to watch the Cornucopia scenes from any of the Hunger Games. They are all bloodbaths.

Gabe instantly sprints towards the Golden Horn. He sure is quick. He is clearly the fastest runner in the Arena, and he was also the fastest off the stands.

When he gets to the Horn, he grabs a spear and launches it towards a large male tribute. My mind flashes back to Marvel throwing the spear at Rue. He was so quick to launch it, so sure of his aim. The way Marvel popped his body back up into a standing position after he hurled it is what gave me a clear shot at his chest.

I notice that Gabe's form matches Marvel's form almost exactly.

"Haymitch, which District is Gabe from?" I ask.

"He's from District 4," he replies.

I don't respond back. Him and Peeta seem to take my silence as indication to refrain from asking any more questions, or talking about the Games in general. Rue's death was the hardest for me to bear, and they all know it.

But none of us ever like to talk much during the viewing of the Games. It is just too sickening, too atrocious, and too recent, even for Haymitch.

We watch on as Gabe gets sliced here or there by small knives other tributes found lying in dirt mounds in a pasture. This time there doesn't seem to be any muttations around the Cornucopia, and I think back to Mags' Games and wonder if the green water monsters really were muttations after all.

I don't know why I never thought this before, but most tributes really do need to stay away from the Cornucopia bloodbath to survive. I almost got killed a couple times when I merely went for a backpack. I'm not sure the survival items are worth risking your life so early on...that is unless you are in a Career pack. One Career alone never does as well as a group of Careers banding together.

It now makes perfect sense why Peeta wants to become like the Careers. Not only will we be fighting experienced killers in this Arena, but also we will do better if we know the tricks to staying together and helping each other from the beginning.

And as painful as it is to watch these Hunger Games tapes, we are picking up tricks to defeating them at the Cornucopia, which undoubtedly many of them plan on charging.

**Workout Day 6, Wednesday:**

Madge brings us the paper in the morning as promised, and we hurry through our jog and workout to have time to read the entire thing. We take a couple hours for lunch, reading the paper and commenting on the opinions of the Capitol and the bets they have already begun placing. Within that time we get another surprise visitor.

Prim's blonde hair swishes around her back as she walks up to us with a small box in her hands. She greets us all sweetly, and tells me that the package just arrived, and that it's from Cinna.

The note reads:

Girl on Fire,

I cannot let you be seen in the clothes Effie sent you. It's bad for my reputation. Call this...the start of your new workout gear line. More to follow.

-Cinna

I take the package to our old house with Prim and try on the outfit for her. Before I even show her the outfit I know that it is a huge improvement from the one Effie sent. First off, I'm comfortable in it. And when I come out and show it to Prim, the look on her face tells me that this outfit suits me.

The bottoms are pants for one thing, not shorts. Well they are a little shorter than full length pants, but that will do nicely seeing as how it is getting warmer outside and we work up a sweat every day. The pants will be nice since we work out on the grass and I find that I am constantly scratching my legs from the irritation the grass causes my skin.

The top is a lightweight green tank top that has two layers of fabric around my chest, of which I am very thankful for. It is as if Cinna knows what it is like to be a girl while working out.

Prim comments on how the green color of the shirt compliments the color of my eyes, and I realize that I would have never noticed that until someone pointed it out. She starts talking about how soft the material is, and how she wishes she had an outfit like that. _Maybe I can get Cinna to send an extra set for Prim._

Prim knows what I like to wear, and what I don't like to wear. I merely held up the outfit Effie sent me in front of Prim and her face squeezed up like a rotten piece of fruit. When I took out Cinna's outfit her eyes lit up, and it made me wonder if that's what they looked like when she saw Cinna's costumes for me before the Games.

When she saw the wedding dresses Cinna designed for me her eyes nearly bulged out of her head and she kept clasping her hands together in awe, coveting each and every one.

I ask her if I should wear the outfit to workout in today and she nods her head enthusiastically, giving me a big smile.

The workout runs smoothly today, and I'm beginning to feel like we're settling into a comfortable routine. Well, Peeta and I are at least. Haymitch is still pathetic at workouts and combat training.

When we sit down to watch more of the Games I crumple into the couch and bunch my legs into my body on the couch that Peeta and I are on.

It's not until I feel his fingers grasp onto my foot that I realize I had unconsciously slid my leg out towards him. I'm surprised when he takes my foot, and I quickly withdraw it from him. If he doesn't know that I'm ticklish on my feet, there's no point in him finding out. Even Gale doesn't know I'm ticklish there.

"This is the one that you broke right?" he asks.

I nod. He grabs my foot again and starts slowly massaging around my ankle.

_Phew, no tickling._

He takes his time and hits every possible spot around my ankle, going especially slow and cautiously around the bone that broke.

"It doesn't hurt when we workout?"

"No," I say, and then hesitate, "it does get a little sore at night though."

"Does this help?"

I nod. I'm too embarrassed to say that it does help it feel less sore, and I am a little stupefied that he thought to massage the muscles when I hadn't.

**Workout Day 7, Thursday:**

I walk down my front steps and find myself completely alone in the road dividing the houses in the Victors's Village. I walk to Peeta's, thinking that maybe they're around the corner of his house for some reason, but they aren't.

_Did they leave me? Am I late? Is Peeta really that much of a stickler for time?_

I walk to the meadow to see if they're already there in the middle of the jog, but when I get there I find that no one is there. Where are they?

I go back to the Victor's Village and start wondering if they are pulling a prank on me.

I hear the front door of my house close and turn towards the noise to find Peeta bounding down the stairs towards me. "There you are," he says.

"There I am?" I ask frustrated. "Where were you guys?"

"In my house," he says as if I should have known.

"Are we no longer meeting outside?" I ask, vexed with his reply.

"No, we are," he starts, "just not today. Come on, Effie sent us something new."

I walk into his house and see a bunch of wires attached to a little, blue box that has lights on it. Some of the lights blink, while others just stay lit up.

Peeta says that Effie sent a note with the package, saying that it is "all the rage" in the Capitol right now for home workouts, and she hopes it won't be too hard to set up.

We spend near an hour trying to figure out how to set up the box to use it to workout inside for a change, each of us giving it a try before tossing the pieces down on the floor in frustration.

One by one, we sit down and start munching on some muffins that Peeta has on a plate on his large coffee table. We seem to have given up on the idea of working out with the little box and are slowly sinking into the furniture.

I hope Trainer Peeta doesn't make us get up just yet...I'm suddenly feeling sleepy.

The next thing I know, Prim is knocking on the front door, yelling through it that dinner will be ready in five minutes, and I realize that I am laying down next to Peeta. Both him and Haymitch are still asleep, and Haymitch is snoring.

_Dinner? We fell asleep all day? Together...?_

We we're sleeping facing each other, his arms around me, and my legs are interwoven with his. He opens his eyes, and stares back at me with a slumberous, content look on his face.

We lay there for a moment in silence, basking in how nice it feels to have gotten a decent amount of sleep without nightmares ruining it. _And on the seventh day there was rest._

I throw a pillow at Haymitch and he wakes up with a start, slashing the air with an imaginary knife.

"Oh," he says groggily. "I think we should designate Thursday as Capitol gizmo day."

Peeta stares into my eyes. "I'm for it, if Katniss is?" he asks me.

I furrow my eyebrows up at him. "It's up to me?" I ask him. So far, very little of our schedule has been up to me...

He says nothing, just raises his eyebrows encouraging me to answer. I look at Haymitch who is letting out a yawn, and look back to Peeta who saw Haymitch's yawn and is now stuck in a yawn as well.

"Okay," I say quietly.

"Look at that," Haymitch says. "I guess you're not always doing something stupid."

I glare at him. He mock glares right back.

We get up and start walking over to my house. Peeta and I are walking side by side, and for the first time in a long time, I find myself wanting to hold his hand. I ignore that thought, and start up a conversation instead.

"No nightmares?" I ask him.

"No," he shakes his head. "You?"

"No," I respond.

We take our seats at the table and scattered around the table is a dinner of roasted chicken legs, a salad with baby spinach, tiny carrots slices, and chunks of tomatoes, and a huge bowl of rolls.

The dinner wakes us up out of our lethargy and we end up watching more of the Games than normal. It's probably a good thing though because there are dozens of tapes to get through and we only have a few months to get through them all.

After the fifteenth tribute dies, Peeta turns it off.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Peeta asks me.

"Peeta, I live three houses down from you," I mock him, remembering when he said that to me during the blizzard.

"Peeta, will you walk me home?" Haymitch asks in a high-pitched voice, impersonating a teenage girl.

Peeta rolls his eyes at him and then turns away from us, heading towards the staircase. _Such a large, empty house. Haymitch's house is too. I wonder if they get lonely._

As he ascends the staircase he says "Goodnight" to us and when I look back at him to say it back, I catch his eyes staring at me before quickly returning them to the stairs he's walking up.

"Goodnight, Peeta," I say.

"Goodnight, sweethearts," Haymitch sneers at us.

**Workout Day 8, Friday:**

We jog for an hour today before moving into weights, but we only get halfway through our routine before it starts raining and we have to take cover under the Katniss tree. We try to wait out the weather, but it's raining harder and harder with each passing minute. None of us wants to work out in the rain all day long.

I suggest sneaking into the school weight room to finish the workout before calling it a day.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Peeta says. "Remember when I went last week? Peacekeepers caught me coming out, and interrogated me as to why I was there."

"Oh you big wuss," Haymitch says. "No one gets in trouble for _attending_ school. Let's go. I'm sick of this rain."

We sneak into the school gym and start working out on the machines in the small weight room. However, it seems to have coincided with one of the Physical Education classes, so there is a small group of guys and girls in there with us.

I notice that the guys instantly look at me strangely, and they don't seem to know that staring is rude.

_Eh, it must be because I'm the only girl victor in District 12._

Maybe they're wondering what workouts I did to train before the Games, except it's not as if any kid here needs to train for the Games this year. In between workouts I hear some of the boys whispering and I look up at them only to find them averting their eyes quickly.

The next thing I know Peeta says that we've finished for the day, and we should take the rest of the day off to rest. We haven't even been here for a half hour, and we certainly haven't finished our lifting routine.

"I think this will be the only time we workout in here," Peeta says as we leave.

"Why? It's got machines with lots of different weights. Wouldn't that be good to use?" I ask.

"Yeah, I suppose so, but I think we should avoid coming here if we can," he says. "I don't want anyone to turn us in to the Peacekeepers."

I can't say that there are zero chances of someone turning us in to the Peacekeepers, because everyone in the District seems to have a precarious relationship with us. They love us for winning them food each month, but they hate us for bringing in more Peacekeepers and ultimately the starvation that continues to cripple the District. I wish I could say that it's not my fault about the latter, but I know I played the biggest role in the new security and punishment measures in the District. As for the food...I don't know if I should blame that on myself, but I do, at least partly.

My mom makes beef stew tonight since it was chilly and raining all day long. She serves it with cheese buns, and by the time the dinner is over Peeta, Haymitch, and I have all had two servings of stew and at least four rolls each.

We feel stuffed, and while we watch more of Gabe's Games we sigh here and there, holding our bellies. At one point a tribute gets slashed right in the stomach and I almost lose my stew. Instead I twist my body around backwards and tuck my head into the couch. Peeta gently rubs my back, until I turn back around after a minute to keep watching the Games.

**Workout Day 9, Saturday:**

We meet outside of Peeta's house as usual and I notice that the bags under Peeta and Haymitch's eyes are puffier than most days. It is a horrible thought that passes through my mind, but secretly I'm glad that I'm not the only one suffering from nightmares of the Games we watch together at night.

Before we leave for the meadow my mom comes out onto our porch, gracefully descends the steps, and walks towards us.

"Would you and Peeta like to have breakfast with us in the mornings?" my mother asks. I raise my eyebrows in disbelief. _Great. Why don't we all just move in together and we'll be one big, happy family._

"I think it would be good if you all began your day with a bowl of grain and some eggs," she continues. "It would help you to put on more weight, and you will all feel a little less tired everyday."

We all perk up at that. Less tired. Sign us up.

Peeta and Haymitch look at me for approval. I nod my head once at them, and they both tell my mother that they would love to and give her their thanks for the offer.

We begin walking through Town and I can't help but ask Peeta, "What's in the box?"

"Effie said she sent us all some more workout things," Peeta says apprehensively. "I think she must have nothing better to do than buy workout things for us."

"Hmm. Well, that is kind of...sweet," I say.

"Yeah, it's downright peachy," Haymitch scoffs. "Well, open it up. Let's see what useless things she sent us this time."

He opens the box and I see an assortment of small objects I assume must be for working out, although I would never have guessed that some of them were made for that purpose. In fact, the only thing I can discern as useful is one solitary dumbbell. _Doesn't she know that Peeta already has dumbbells for us? And why is there just one?_

The dumbbell has two large silver ends, each the shape of a small cylinder, and the handle is made out of some type of spongy, white material. At first sight it looked identical to the ones that Peeta got, but now that I look closer, I see that it is much bigger overall and the handle bows out in the middle so that the middle of the handle is nearly twice the size as the rest of the handle. I look for markings that indicate its weight, but there is nothing accept a black stamp that reads, "Shake Weight."

I pick it up, examining it for a moment until I realize that my hand stayed steady but the dumbbell moved. I look up at Peeta and Haymitch with a confused look, but they don't seem to know what kind of weight this is either.

I hold the handle so the cylinders parallel the ground and slowly move it vertically, but nothing happens. So, I switch directions and move the dumbbell horizontally, and then it moves, well jiggles really.

It reminds me of one of the desserts they had at the Capitol. Effie said it was called Jummy, and it was a red, solid, but very light, jam-like substance, except it formed more of a cohesive mass and wiggled on the plate as the red-headed Avox girl set it down before me.

The dumbbell acts like Jummy and it is a strange feature to have in a dumbbell. Wouldn't it be better to just increase the weight? What's with the shaking? Does that really help build muscle, or it is just a sad excuse for a proper dumbbell?

Throughout my internal analysis I have continued moving this weight but stop the second I hear Haymitch and Peeta erupt into laughter.

"What?" I ask at them, my face twisting in confusion.

They just laugh louder and point at the dumbbell and then at me, so I drop it down on the ground. My cheeks flush because I have no idea what is so funny, yet I feel like I should be aware of what I did to bust them at the seams with laughter.

They don't answer me, and my lack of comprehension now has them keeled over shaking with laughter, their hands on their knees. My embarrassment transforms into irritation when I see Haymitch wipe away tears from his eyes.

"Whatever this is for, I can't imagine it being very useful," I say.

They erupt into laughter again, and I begin to wonder if people can physically laugh harder than this. When they don't stop laughing after a minute, I end up walking away from them to start my jog.

Peeta catches up to me during the jog and looks at me, trying to put on an apologetic face but failing miserably. Every time I scowl at him he ends up looking away and chuckling again.

**AN: I couldn't resist adding in the yoga scene so I hope you guys don't mind it :) There are some guys in my yoga class that do the funniest things and constantly check out the girls AND get this—there is even a wrestler in there with blonde hair...I couldn't help thinking of Peeta every time I saw him.**

**I just finished with dead week, finals week, and moving to a different state. I apologize for the delay, but life has been crazy. And I also graduated yesterday! Yay! Reviews would be a great graduation gift ;) There may be some errors in this chapter on account of me being mentally exhausted. Please don't hesitate to let me know so I can fix them. Now that my crazy final two weeks of class are over, I promise to update much faster!**


	3. Boxing

**Boxing**

**AN: Can you tell I like Sunday's? :) I want to give special thanks to veronique2 for the wonderful review! And I want to thank all of you who read, favorite-d, or put this story on alert. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

**I said that I would make the chapters shorter...but then made them much longer. Sorry! I'm trying to keep them short and sweet, but I keep finding more stuff I want to add. Anything that you recognize is from Suzanne Collin's **_**The Hunger Games**_** trilogy. Italics indicate internal monologues or dreams. ... indicates the past.**

**Workout Day 10, Sunday:**

After we come together for a sizeable breakfast of eggs, toast, ham, and blueberries at my house, we make our way to the meadow to meet Gale. Peeta asked him if he would teach us as many snares as he knows after last Sunday's lesson, and he agreed without hesitation.

Gale wasn't there when we showed up, so Peeta had us do a light warm-up jog and stretch our muscles to keep ourselves limber. My arms are sore from yesterday's workout, so I clasp my hands behind my back and lift them upwards in a painful stretch. I feel someone grab my hands and pull up a little higher.

"Ah!" I jump and the person lets go. I swivel around to find that my assailant is Gale, standing there with a wide grin on his face.

"One," he says to Peeta. Peeta sighs, and then nods.

"Gale!" I exhale, and push his chest.

He laughs at me. "That never gets old, Catnip."

"Yes, it does."

"Maybe to you," he smiles. "Let me help." He lifts my arms back behind me; one of my arms is in each of his hands.

I groan from the sore muscles. I worked out twice as hard yesterday than I normally do, because I was irritated with Haymitch and Peeta laughing at me. When I finally understood where their minds led them with that blasted, Capitol dumbbell, my face reddened like it was set on fire and I ignored them the rest of the workout.

Gale helps me stretch each of my arms until they feel loosened up. I begin stretching the muscles in my legs, which ache with a dull burn.

At one point Gale tells me to lie down, and I shoot him a quizzical look before doing so. He asks for one of my feet, and I'm secretly glad I have shoes on so he can't tickle my feet. I hate that. I lift my right foot in the air, and he gently pushes down on the knee of my floating leg until it is locked. I furrow my eyebrows at him before he swings my foot straight up in the air.

I suddenly feel like a trapped rabbit, one foot helplessly entangled in one of his snares. He kneels to the ground right beside my outstretched leg, grips my leg, and pushes it back until I feel the muscles have hit the point of no return. It burns, but it's better than the muscles staying sore.

After both legs are stretched out I stand up and brush the grass off my back and Gale says, "Well look at you...you're starting to develop muscles." He's looking at my arms, which are bare in the tank top Cinna sent me.

I hold up my right arm in an L shape, and give it the best flex I can. He examines my arm, and gives it a squeeze.

"An impressive girl bicep." Gale tries to suppress a smile.

I huff at him, and slug his arm playfully.

"Oww" he drawls out to mock me and rubs the spot I hit. I narrow my eyes at him and he laughs. "Now, what was that for?"

"I'm strong," I insist.

"You've got nothing on me." He pulls his shirtsleeve towards his shoulder, and flexes his large bicep for me. Lack of food may leave him thin overall, but it doesn't make him look any less strong, and it's _very_ evident in his arms.

I graze my hand over his muscles and feel his bicep. It's strange, but I've never felt his arm before. I like the feel of it. The surface is soft, but what's underneath is hard and strong.

"Did you like that?" Gale asks smugly. I look down and smile.

"There's my smile," he says warmly. "I was beginning to think I would never see it again."

I look up at him, pull up a cheesy smile, and then turn around to get a drink of water. I spot Peeta gulping down some water, and see that he has rolled up his own sleeves.

I sigh.

"You know, the sun is free," Haymitch says to Peeta, and we all laugh.

Peeta shakes his head at us and gives a slight smile. We from the Seam always like to tease the pasty townies. It is as if they never go outside, and we simply don't understand that concept.

We circle around the snare materials Gale brought, and he starts in on Lesson 2 of basic snares. First, we learn a foothold trap that uses a dirt hole and a snare. For the foothold trap he shows us the width and depth of the hole appropriate for each type of animal he and I have encountered in the woods. He says we can use the knowledge of familiar animals to help devise traps for the unfamiliar ones we may encounter in the Arena.

Gale shows us how to conceal the trap by making the hole appear to be animal-made, not human-made, and gives us tips on where to place the snare inside the hole.

"If we dig holes all over the Arena and suddenly have to flee the area we could easily trip and fall into the holes," Peeta reasons.

"So could your assailants," he replies. "Animals, tributes, even mutts probably won't be aware of the holes. There is a greater chance that they would fall in the hole than you would. Their focus would be on the attack, not on being trapped. And you would have the advantage of knowing where you dug the traps. Avoiding them will be easy if you remember to focus on the ground as well."

"Or if you're clever," Gale twitches an eyebrow at Peeta and me, "you can guide them into the traps."

"Like bait?" I ask. I am displeased with the idea of taunting our assailants. It's too risky in the Arena. It was too risky in our own woods.

"Yeah, why not Catnip? It's not like we haven't done it before."

"Yeah, and one time it didn't work out well, did it?" I say. Peeta and Haymitch look back and forth at both of us, mystified.

Gale's face goes slack, and his eyes look sorrowful. "No, one time it didn't work out, but we did catch it, didn't we?"

"Yeah" I mutter, looking away from him.

"What happened?" Peeta asks. Gale tells him the story.

...

I remember it vividly. Gale and I were checking his traps, when we came upon a wild dog trying to jump up and reach a rabbit that was hanging above the ground in one of Gale's twitch up snares. He growled at us and we looked for a tree to climb, but there were no trees around for nearly 100 yards.

"Run" Gale said softly, and we turned on our heels and fled. It chased us and caught up with us quickly. Wild dogs are much faster than humans. It nipped at my heel, and I panicked and ran faster, not looking at the ground. I fell into one of Gale's foothold pits, and pain instantly seized my knee.

The dog followed me in, and sunk its teeth into my arm. I struggled to free myself for a few seconds, but it was gripping my arm tightly and growling at me. I kicked it swiftly with my good leg, and it let go with a whimper. Gale quickly shot it, but the arrow didn't stop the frenzied animal. I scrambled to my feet and Gale yanked me out of the hole. He shot it again, and this time it fell to the ground, wheezing a few times before it died.

Gale's eyes shot over to me and examined me quickly. "Are you ok?" His eyes were terrified when they landed on my arm and his mouth dropped open in alarm.

"Yeah, I think I twisted my knee, and it bit me pretty hard, but I'm fine."

He looked at my knee, gently feeling the bones and muscles around my kneecap, and then took a look at the bite mark. "Let's get you to your mom," he said quickly, picking me up and carrying me home in his arms.

"What about the dog?"

"It doesn't matter, Catnip."

...

Gale leaves the guys to practice tying some snares, and leads me away from them so we can talk in private. "Katniss, that's why I filled them all back in, and never built another one."

"I know."

"I was 14. I never thought you would fall into one. You were always so careful about where you put your feet out there."

"Well, I panicked."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just...so glad I was there." His eyes glaze over, and he looks down to hide them. "I still feel bad about that."

I sigh and nod my head. I look at him, and wait for his eyes to meet mine. "I know you didn't mean for that to happen."

I pop up on my toes and touch my lips to his, quick as a flash. His eyes show that he wasn't anticipating it, but is pleasantly surprised. His eyes search mine, and I feel locked into his gaze. We're silent for a few moments but head back with smiles on our face. I see Peeta's head duck down quickly when I catch him staring at us. I didn't miss the look of pain on his face, and I feel a pang of guilt.

"If we dig any foothold traps, we'll be sure to place them where we know we won't be running." Peeta is trying to lighten the mood, but his voice catches and another wave of guilt spills through me. Each wave of guilt fills my body with a suffocating weight, and all I want is to not feel that heaviness.

Just as he finishes his statement we see Madge come up the hill, bearing her father's newspaper.

_Thank goodness._

We break for lunch and are eager to speak with Madge. She is a welcome break from the tension that just built up.

After lunch Gale switches from the foothold trap into teaching us how to make a twitch-up snare, and lectures us about snares for the rest of the day. I tune him out because I've heard it time and time again, but Peeta is listening intently. Haymitch just keeps tying loops in the rope and swinging them around, trying to trap Peeta and I. He misses every time, but it's entertaining to watch his befuddled face when he fails.

"The most important component of trapping animals is to know them inside and out. Observation and knowledge go hand in hand with the skill to set a trap, because in order to trap something you have to know how to encourage them into the trap. You need to know what they eat, where they get their food, how they move, what hunts them, and what they do to avoid being hunted..."

Gale talks on and on about how to become a skilled trapper, and I can practically see Peeta's head start spinning with the overwhelming amount of information he is trying to memorize.

Gale tells us what materials we can use to make a snare: twigs can prop up pieces of the snare, long blades of grass can wrap around twigs to strengthen it, and rocks can be used in a pulley system to hoist the animals into the air—this is so the ensnared animal avoids getting snatched by predators. Finally, he shows us the most efficient way to build a snare.

As we practice making individual twitch-up snares Gale says, "It's a shame we can't test your snares out in the woods. There's no better way to learn than to see your trap being used to ensnare an actual animal."

He frowns until he snags my foot in a snare and the attached branch swings up into the air.

I'm much to heavy for the branch to lift me. It's only a medium-sized branch so it snaps as it whips up into the air. However, it's big enough to break my equilibrium.

Oop! I fall to the ground, and he tugs the rope lightly so that it tightens around my ankle. I glare at him.

"Two," he smiles at me, and grins wickedly at Peeta. Peeta grumbles and gives him a nod.

When we get done for the day our heads hurt, and we walk away from Lesson #2 still absorbing all of the information. It's easier for me since I know how to make these snares, even if I'm not as good as Gale is, but I see that Peeta's eyebrows are scrunched in concentration. Haymitch just looks like he would like to leave Peeta dangling up in a tree with a snare to go buy some alcohol from Ripper in peace.

"Gale, please stay for dinner," my mom pleads. "I made too much food, and I couldn't bear for any of it to go to waste." Her eyes are kind and warm, and she's got a sweet smile on her lips.

"Thank you, Mrs. Everdeen," he says. Gale exchanges a glance with me, expressing his chagrin at staying here and eating to his fill while his family barely eats enough to survive. It's a concealed look, but I catch it, and it hurts.

If I could I would feed him and his family every meal, and I would do my best to make sure they never feel hungry again. It's the least I can do since he provided for my mom and Prim during the Games.

We head over to Peeta's right after dessert, and decide to try to finish Gabe's Games tonight. We're down to the final six tributes, and we're hoping it ends soon.

The Tributes are settling down for the night and the Arena is dangerously frigid. I'm confused by the temperature, since I don't see any weather condition indicating the Arena should be as cold as it seems to be.

The Tributes are having a terrible time retaining their body heat, and are resorting to desperate methods to warm up. Two are shown lighting fires, which only stay lit for a few minutes. They curse viciously every time the fire dies. _They must have skipped the fire station during Training._

The three Careers left huddle together in two sleeping bags that they zipped together. They had no luck hunting the Tributes at night so they gave up and tried to get warm again.

Another is burying herself deeper and deeper into a hole in the ground, piling the soil around her. She gets up from the hole sometimes to pace and rub her arms.

"You should both make sure to get a sleeping bag this next time," Gale says. Our eyes shift to him.

We all know why he said that, and we all know he directed it at Peeta. Haymitch and I don't discuss the fact that Peeta plans to go in with me, because it distresses us.

Gale continues, "The Gamemakers purposely made the Arena freeze at night during the last Games. If that happens again, and one of your sleeping bags gets destroyed with fireballs..." he pauses to look at me, "...or some other Capitol contraption, you'll be stuck with nothing to keep you warm. You can't light fires at night. It's too dangerous. And there aren't always other options to stay warm."

He waits, watching our expressions.

He does make some valid points. Fireballs could have easily destroyed the sleeping bag I had last year, and we certainly can't build fires at night, especially not with an Arena full of Victors.

Is it worth searching the Cornucopia for an extra sleeping bag though? We could get killed in the time it takes to find one. And what if they don't provide sleeping bags at all?

"Yeah, well I just hope the Arena isn't as cold as the last one," Peeta replies. "We almost froze to death on top of the Golden Horn."

"A hot Arena is just as bad, if not worse," Haymitch chimes in, clearly agitated with Peeta. "What is usually the hardest thing to find in the arena?" he asks Peeta and me.

"Water," Peeta and I reply at the same time.

"Not just water, sweethearts," he condescends. I feel Gale tense up beside me. "Fresh water. A desert would likely be the worst Arena for every Victor. Well, Tribute," he says with disgust.

He continues, but this time looking directly at Peeta, "And seeing as how we're all prime targets right now, I wouldn't hold on to hopes of a warm Arena."

Haymitch settles back into his chair, and we all silently watch the atrocities assault us again, and again.

Gale starts rubbing my arm and it half hurts and half feels good. He moves his hand up to the top of my shoulder and massages the muscles. I unconsciously let out a little noise.

Haymitch looks at me with an eyebrow raised, and then just rolls his eyes back to the television. He shakes his head and mumbles something under his breath. I scowl at him even though he's not looking at me.

I feel another pair of eyes on me, and glance over at Peeta. His light blue eyes flicker back down to his notes quickly. He has a strange look on his face, and I figure it must be because I pulled his attention away from analyzing the Games.

"Ow!" I yelp.

"Sorry, but you've got a knot Catnip," Gale says.

He grabs my hips and pulls me up over his left leg until I'm smack in the middle of his legs. _Well this is new_. Both of his hands are now roaming around the area where my knot is in my upper back.

I can't help feeling slightly uncomfortable about being straddled by Gale on the same couch that Peeta is sitting on, but that doesn't last long...

I slowly feel my knot disintegrating from my back and little ooh's escape my lips. Gale pushes harder with one of his thumbs directly over the knot, and as the pain mixes with relief I let out an involuntary groan. Almost simultaneously Peeta gets up from couch and leaves the room, and I wonder if I should have stopped Gale from sliding me in between his legs while we're sitting right next to Peeta.

The discomfort I felt for Peeta putting up with me and Gale is now full-fledged guilt. _No matter what I do I am hurting someone._

I resolve to tell Gale that we shouldn't upset Peeta like that, but he keeps massaging my back and neck until a surprising number of knots are gone, and I feel so relaxed and peaceful that I cannot bring myself to care about anyone else in the room.

_I am so selfish._

"Ahh," I breathe quietly. I am so relaxed I think I could fall asleep. My eyelids are getting heavy, and Gale's body is radiating heat at me.

The next thing I know I am moving in the air. I blink my eyes open and realize I am in Gale's arms and he is picking me up off the couch and carrying me home.

When he sets me on my bed and pulls the covers around my body, I seize his hand. It's dark in my room because he didn't turn the lights on, but I can tell that he crouched down beside me through the moonlight illuminating my room.

"Trying to trap me?" he says. His tone makes me think he is pleased with me practicing my skills.

"Thanks for the massage," I say.

"Anytime, Catnip."

"I might have to take you up on that. I can't believe you put me to sleep."

He laughs. "I know. It was nice." I can hear his smile in his words, and a smile crosses my lips too. I'm happy that I am able to make him happy, even if it is for a short time.

Too short. I only have a couple more months with him...My heart beats pick up speed, driving the sleepiness out of my body.

I lift myself up and lightly kiss his lips, just for a second. I've never even kissed Peeta on my own bed. I like that this is new for us, and I begin thinking that I don't want to be his for just a couple months.

And how is that fair to him? Starting a relationship with him mere months before I am sent to my death?

And I will die this time. I will save Peeta. I will not let him die.

I will not come back to Gale, even though I want to.

It would be easier for Gale to forget me. It would be easier for him if I don't kiss him, or fall asleep in his lap. It would be easier if I don't let him help us learn snares.

I'm a terrible person for stringing him along. He should start falling out of love with me, not more in love. _I'm selfish._

I'm selfish for letting Peeta be used by President Snow, and I'm selfish for stoking the fire with Gale. I shouldn't be showing him any affection. And now...if he had any doubt about my feelings for him, I just reaffirmed them with two kisses today.

He takes in a deep breath. "I could get used to this," he says, moving to sit on the side of my bed. He takes my hand and starts stroking it lightly with each of his fingers down to the tips of my fingers and back to my wrist.

I swallow. "I could too," I say, unable to keep the melancholy out of my voice, despite trying.

Why is it that President Snow always manages to take what I want away from me? First, I lost my choice to choose the person I wanted to love. Now, I'm losing the chance to love him.

He breathes out a sigh. He knows what I'm thinking. Of course he does. No one knows me better than him, not even Prim.

He kisses my forehead and smoothes my hair. "I've wanted to do this for a long time," he says quietly. He reverses my hand so that he can stroke my palm.

"Do what?" I ask.

"Stroke your hair...put you to sleep...kiss you," he says. "Even if it is a secret. I've wondered what it would be like to do those things."

I sigh and open my mouth to speak, but he interrupts me. "Just let this be," he says, cupping my face with his warm hand. His hands are sinewy and rough from mining, but I don't mind the coarseness. The sharp grains of his skin ground me, and remind me that life is not soft. It's not delicate. Yet people like Gale endure through the suffering, and are stronger for it.

But his life is already hard enough without throwing in the pain of losing the girl he loves forever. It's unfair to give in to my own feelings when it will bring him pain in the end.

"I can't Gale," I say, pushing the words out. "This isn't fair to you. You and I both know it."

My heart sinks in my chest, but at least my conscious is clear. I've voiced my reservations, and can only hope that he backs off, for his own good. I clearly am not strong enough yet to distance myself from him. I kissed him twice today. How is that going to help him move on?

"Just let this be," he says gently. "I know what it means to love the 'Girl on Fire,' " mocking my Capitol nickname.

"Yeah, you'll get burned just like Peeta," I say trying to cut off the conversation.

"No," he says, shaking his head slowly. "I will regret it everyday of my life if I hold it all in now. Please, don't make me try. I'm not giving up on you. Even if you give up on us."

I'm damned if I deter his feelings, and I'm damned if I encourage them.

He places another kiss on my lips. "Goodnight, Catnip," he says, and walks out of my bedroom. I listen for his footsteps, but hear nothing.

It takes me a long time to fall asleep tonight. I lay on one side thinking about a way I could show that I care for him without hurting him in the end, and then give up on that idea and flip to the other side thinking of a way to encourage him to move on without making him upset, or angry. Flip. Flop. Over and over. Both sides offer no solution. Both sides offer no sleep, no peace, no comfort.

Flip. I could be more affectionate with him, when we're alone so we don't upset Peeta. But when are we ever alone? Well, here, in my room..._but that doesn't seem like a good idea..._

Flop. I could tell him not to come on Sundays anymore. I could tell him that we don't need to learn any more snares. I can try to teach Peeta and Haymitch the more advanced ones he taught me. But telling him we don't need to learn more snares would be a lie because he knows how his snares caught food for me, Rue, and Peeta in the last Games. He also knows when I'm lying, and besides, telling him not to come anymore would probably just end up hurting his feelings if he thought I didn't want him to spend his free time with me. _I won't hurt him now if I can help it._

Flip. Ok, what if I let him spend the night with me here. I mean...it is the only time we could have to be alone. And technically it is my house. But I don't think my mom would approve, or Hazelle for that matter...and I don't want to set a bad example for Prim and Posy. Ugh...and if Peeta finds out it might make things awkward for us, and I have to spend everyday with him. All day. _No, awkward is not good._

Flop. I could encourage him to pursue another girl. Well, the only other girl I actually like being around is Madge...but I don't like the idea of them together. I remember the sting of jealousy when she brought him the morphling. I don't want to be jealous. _Gosh, I'm so selfish._

Flip. We could go public. He said that he liked being able to do "boyfriend stuff" with me, even if it was secret. He's still jealous that Peeta and I are an official couple. Would it be easier for him if I gave him this small concession here in District 12? I tut at myself, small concession...use your brain. _My relationship with Peeta is all that is preventing Snow from killing Gale, and Prim and my mom._

Flop. Are there any other girls I could push Gale towards? There's Stephanie from in Town. She wasn't...horrible during school, but then again Gale said he couldn't stand her voice. _That won't work_.

Flip. I could invite him here for dinner everyday. But I know he won't leave his family dinners everyday. He only stays on Sunday because my mom insists. He would never let his family eat dinner alone everyday, and I know he wouldn't let me invite them. I've already tried that. _He's too stubborn._

Flop. I could break his heart to get him to leave me. I could tell him that I love Peeta, and not him. _No, I can't do that to him._

Flip. Flop...Sleep...Nightmares...Flip. Flop...Sleep.

**Workout Day 11, Monday:**

Prim's fingers wake me up and I'm surprised at how tight my muscles are. I thought Gale practically rubbed all the muscles out of my back. I didn't anticipate having another knot for a few days after that massage.

"Katniss, you're really tense this morning," Prim says. "Didn't you guys only work on snares yesterday?"

"Yeah," I breathe into my pillow.

"Why are you so tense then?" Prim asks.

I take a deep breath. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"I know..." A teeny giggle escapes her lips before she snaps them shut.

I turn around and look at her. I raise my eyebrows at her, asking questions that I don't want to voice.

"I heard Gale bring you upstairs," she says with a small smile. "It was sweet."

The walk to the meadow is quiet. Peeta tries to make small talk with us, but neither Haymitch nor I are up for chatting this morning. My mind is on Gale, and I have no clue what is going through Haymitch's head.

Peeta gives up on talking until Madge arrives. Haymitch looks at Peeta, "You invited her back?"

"Yeah? You said yourself you wanted to do more yoga."

He exhales through his nostrils in anger at Peeta. It seems like he dislikes having the Mayor's daughter involved in our clandestine activities, but I can't help feeling it's more than that.

Madge goes over many of the same moves, but she adds in some new ones that make us fall over a lot. One time after Haymitch falls, he sticks to the ground, and shortly falls asleep.

Madge notices him sleeping, and stands up noiselessly. She holds a forefinger to her lips and glides over to him.

She gives his back a "whack!" and he wakes up with a start, slashing at the air with a ghost knife. Madge jumps back, and Haymitch suddenly stops and settles himself back on the ground covering his face.

"I'm sorry Madge," he mumbles through his hands.

_Wow. How many times have I heard Haymitch apologize?_

Peeta and I look back and forth at Madge and Haymitch, and share a puzzled glance before we settle back into our positions.

Haymitch sits up and re-forms the line with us, and we finish our lesson with Madge.

After yoga, Peeta has us work on throwing knives at targets that he painted for us on canvas. He painted one for each of us. They were so perfectly done I hated to ruin them with the knife marks. I hesitated on my first throw until Peeta told me to 'hurry up and throw it all ready.'

Dinner and dessert ends, and Peeta hurries us over to his house to start the Games.

He said he has a tentative schedule lined up for us that indicates that we are already behind schedule. Apparently at this point, we should try to get through each tape in two days, no more than three, because there are so many possible tributes and we only have about two and a half months before the Reaping.

We've got fifty-eight tapes in the box Effie sent us, including Haymitch's and our Games. When we first counted them up it unsettled me that out of sixteen Victors had already passed away. It sent a chill through my entire body.

The night we counted the tapes, the dead Victors visited me in my dreams. I didn't know of any of them, but my mind generated them all as if I knew them, all sixteen of them.

...

_Peeta and I were stuck with them in a new Arena; I guessed it was this year's. One by one, they came after Peeta, and one by one, we fought them off. As we fought each one he was injured worse and worse by their attacks, until by the end he was dying, and I didn't have a scratch on me._

_He lay down after we killed the final Victor, and I kneeled beside him, my hands flying over his body, desperately working to stop the bleeding. "Kat.." I saw his eyes shut and the boom of a canon filled my ears._

I woke up with a thick sheen of sweat on my forehead and a dry mouth. My lungs were frantically pulling in air, and my heartbeats were so labored that it felt like my heart was going to spontaneously burst in my chest. I could hear the ringing in my ears as if a canon had just fired.

I tore off my covers and rushed to the window for any sign that Peeta was alive and unharmed. Dawn was breaking, and I knew, if he was alive, he would be baking. I focused my eyes on his kitchen window. Nothing.

My heart started pounding hard in my chest. I grabbed my robe, threw it on, and took one more glance out the window. And then I saw his blonde hair. He was throwing his hand around in the air violently, and then dunked it under the water. He must have burned his hand on the oven.

I sunk back onto the bed and breathed slow and even to steady the rhythm of my heart. I tried to cover up my nightmare with a daydream of Peeta baking all day long. It didn't work though. It never does.

_Over half of all the Victors will be dead in a couple months. Twenty-three of us will join them soon. _That is all I could think. I curled back under the covers and shut my eyes, facing the terror that I might not be one of those twenty-three, and Peeta may.

...

Since that dream, I eventually found a sense of peace and finality about those sixteen Victors. They no longer endure nightmares or fear the world we live in, and the Arena no longer haunts them as it does us.

"Did you know all of the Victors who passed away, Haymitch?" I ask, transporting myself back to the present.

"Some of them," he says gruffly. "Many passed away from old age, and I heard that others passed away due to other causes."

"Other causes?"

He pauses disturbingly. "Illnesses."

"Oh." He really means other causes he cannot discuss in a bugged house. I shiver.

We begin watching the Games of Blain Tyrell, whom Haymitch says isn't exactly mentally stable at this point.

"Who is?" I ask dryly.

Peeta begins finding ways to speed up the Games so we keep to his schedule. We skip the Interviews and play the tape as soon as the Tributes are on the platforms.

He says we can fast forward through anything that is unrelated to the Victor's fighting techniques or skills, and Haymitch and I nod our approval to him.

We start the tape when Blain pops up through the surface. Peeta notes that the Arenas have altered between hot and cold so far, but Haymitch disagrees that this is a verifiable pattern.

Blain's Arena is set in a climate that Peeta and I never encountered in the Victory Tour. Haymitch calls it "a desert," and it is filled with a pale, dry soil. There is no grass, and only a few straggly bushes crop out of the earth.

The Golden Horn is set on top of a wide sharp rock, and little parcels of survival gear adorn the space in between the Tributes and the Horn. The parcels are bright, horrid colors that instantly draw your attention.

_I think back to my bright red backpack and how hard it was to conceal it with mud. _The Capitol citizens must love the colors, but I don't doubt that the Gamemakers know the dangers in these color choices. _They're sick._

**Workout Day 12, Tuesday:**

It's raining today, so we drag Peeta to the gym at school, and start in our routine. There's even a machine with a rubber track that you can run on, but we have to take turns on it because there's only one.

I finish abs first and lay down, while I wait for Peeta and Haymitch to finish. Peeta finishes with his last set of abs and I see Haymitch give up at the same time saying he's done too. I roll my eyes at him. Peeta walks us over to a large bag that's hanging from the ceiling.

"What is this for?" I look at it skeptically.

"It's a punching bag," Peeta says.

"Really?" I like the sound of that. Maybe Peeta was on to something when he said we should make our own weight room. I wouldn't mind having one of these around.

I punch it lightly to get a feel for it. It doesn't swing as much as I thought it would. I punch it harder.

"Ow!"

"Katniss! You need to wear boxing gloves. You're going to hurt yourself. Are you ok?" Peeta has concern written all over his face.

Haymitch just snickers. He sits down in a chair next to the punching bag, and his snicker quickly erupts into full on laughter when he sees me coddling my hand. His head bows with shakes from chuckling at me.

I pull on some gloves Peeta handed to me, and make a beeline for Haymitch.

"Peeta! Let me go!" Peeta grabbed both of my arms and planted me to where I couldn't move. Haymitch looked up, and gave a hearty laugh at the scene we were making.

"You can't beat up Haymitch," he says exasperated.

"Oh yes I can."

"Hey!...That's one!" I turn around suddenly disinterested with sniggering Haymitch. Peeta looks euphoric. I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh," he scratches the top of his head. "Nothing. Never mind."

Haymitch suddenly bops me on the top of my head with a boxing glove, and darts over to a larger set of mats laid out right next to the punching bag.

I assume it must be the makeshift boxing area, since Haymitch goes right onto the mats and starts bouncing on the balls of feet. He crouches his body forward a little like he's thinking of charging at me, and hits his gloves together while staring me down.

"I'm ready when you are sweetheart."

"Don't call me that you drunk."

"Oh, I wish I was drunk sweetheart."

I growl at him and follow him to the mats. Peeta sighs loudly, and probably rolls his eyes at both of us.

But my eyes are locked on Haymitch's, and he starts circling towards me, bouncing slightly. I start to follow his path, unsure of what I am really supposed to do that would be considered boxing. However, I'm elated at the possibility of socking Haymitch in the jaw.

"Come on old man, make your move."

He narrows his eyes at me, and jabs the air by my face viciously. I hear the hiss of air as it just misses my cheek.

I strike out at him immediately after, and hit him square in the jaw. I smile victoriously.

He shakes his head and gets right back to his bouncy stance. He circles again, but this time he's much closer to me. He punches at me with one hand, but I move my head just in time. When I return to my ready stance he quickly socks me in the cheek with his other hand.

Bam!_ I didn't see that one coming_.

"You okay Katniss?" I hear Peeta ask. I ignore him. I'm focused only on Haymitch.

I shake my head and prance on the balls of my feet. I pummel the side of his face with a hard punch and he swivels to the side, his body involuntarily traveling with the force of the punch. He recovers fast but doesn't see my fist launch at him again.

Bam! _He didn't see that one coming_.

"You had better not be letting me win!"

He spits at the ground and glares at me. He throws a punch at my gut and makes contact.

Biff! All the air escapes my body and I try to inhale again and again, but my lungs refuse air.

I'm hunched over with the boxing gloves on my knees holding my body up. I'm not breathing still, and Haymitch seems to have a change of heart when he walks over to me with his gloves at his side. Peeta rushes over to me, but Haymitch gets to me first.

Suddenly I stand up, inhale quickly, throw my arm back, and sock him as hard as I can in the gut.

Haymitch mimics my fight for normal respiration and we both have our gloved hands on our knees.

Peeta pats my back lightly. "That's my girl." I look up at him. His smile is so big it practically chokes his cheeks.

I make my way off the mats and notice that all of the guys in the weight room are intently watching us with wide eye. Some of them are slapping each other's hands and trading money.

_Ugh, guys and bets._

The schoolboys meander back to their machines and free weights, while Peeta and I make our way back to the punching bag. Haymitch is still hovering over his knees on the mats.

The room unexpectedly fills with horrid music coming from a tiny stereo. The sound is deep and menacing, and continual male screams penetrate the room. I jumped at the first scream and thought it came from the boys in here, but I looked around and found them all to be silently puffing through their workouts. They weren't even talking very much since the excitement of the fight was over.

I looked back at Peeta who was smiling at me. "What? You don't like heavy metal workout music?"

I make a sour face. "No..."

He chuckles. "Then, does that mean you don't want to workout here anymore?

"I don't know. This room has a lot of equipment we don't have." I smile mischievously. "And it's not everyday I get to beat up Haymitch."

He flashes a grin at me. "We can order all of this equipment and put it in one of the rooms in my house. We can make our own workout room. And you'll still be able to beat up Haymitch."

He sounds so convincing, and he looks hopeful, but I still can't understand why he wants to take the trouble to do all of that when we can just sneak in here.

"It seems like a lot of trouble to go to."

"Katniss, it's no trouble."

I tug an eyebrow up at him.

"Really it's not. It would save us the trip of coming all the way here. Haymitch might not be so surly if he's just with us, and I won't worry about..." he looks around to see if anyone is listening to us, "you know."

I don't worry about the Peacekeepers finding us here as much as he does. He's probably just spooked from that one time he ran into them.

"I don't see what's so bad about coming here, except maybe the music." I eye the stereo with disdain.

"There are lots of...eyes here." He looks around sharply.

"Come on you worry wart." I coax his eyes back to the punching bag. I have my eyes set on it, and I'm itching to punch it since it wouldn't be fair to pummel Haymitch anymore.

"Alright, we can talk about it later."

I sigh. He tells me he will hold the bag, while I punch it as often as I want.

I jab at it with the opposite hand that I used earlier when I punched it sans a boxing glove. It hardly budges with Peeta holding onto it tightly. I punch it again, harder and with more confidence.

I laugh when I punch it so hard that I move him backwards a little. He looks at me. "That was good. Again."

"Thanks." My glove flies through the air towards the bag, but catches the side of the bag and veers straight for Peeta's face.

He stumbles backwards and struggles to regain his balance, before falling flat on the floor.

"Peeta!" I rush over to him and yank the boxing gloves off of me. My punch landed on his forehead and split a long gash in the skin close to his hairline.

"Nice going sweetheart," Haymitch jeers at me.

"Peeta, I'm so sorry!" I'm flustered at the sight of Peeta in a daze. He's never dazed. I must have knocked him pretty hard.

He mumbles something incoherent, and his eyes are spinning.

I hold up two fingers. "Peeta, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"You're so beautiful," he says, still dazed and confused, and his speech is slurred.

_Great, he might have a concussion. I can't believe I might have given Peeta a concussion._

"Oh brother," Haymitch says.

"Peeta, focus on my hand. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Uh," he blinks his eyes a couple times. "Two, I think."

"Good, that was right," I say to him.

"Where's the First Aid kit?" I call to the boys across the room.

"Uh...we don't have one," they stumble over their words.

I turn back to Peeta. The gash on his face definitely needs to be sterilized and bandaged. There's no telling what germs are crawling over this equipment. And I may have given him a concussion. I should get him to my mom.

We walk slowly for Peeta's sake, even though he says he's fine. We head into the Victor's Village and he starts heading toward his house.

I stop, angling myself towards my house. "We should go to my mom so she can decide if you need stitches, and she can also figure out how badly I jumbled your head," I say, tugging his hand towards my house.

"Katniss, you brought me back from the dead," he says. "I want you. As my healer I mean."

We get inside and Haymitch goes to lie down on the couch immediately. He will probably be asleep in thirty seconds.

Peeta tells me he has a First Aid kit under the kitchen sink, so we wander into the kitchen. I pull it out and take out some cotton, antiseptic, and an oddly shaped adhesive that says 'butterfly closure.' It doesn't look like any butterfly I've ever seen. In fact it looks more like a pair of eyeglass rims.

We sit on chairs facing each other. Peeta scoots his chair close to me, and our knees touch.

Every once in a while I look down at his eyes, and catch him staring at me before he quickly evades my gaze. His eyes are a striking blue color, like little pools of summer sky.

"Your eyes are beautiful, Peeta" I say, despite my better judgment to keep my mouth shut.

"Thanks, but they're nothing like yours." His eyes switch back and forth, looking closely at my eyes. "I've never felt like I was able to capture them the way they really are."

I laugh at him, because what he said is ridiculous and because he is slurring his words still. "Peeta, you painted them better than they really are." I shake my head.

"That's not true. Your eyes have little lines of different grays and silvers," he says as he points to my eyes, making lines in the air. "They change sometimes too. Not the color, really, just the sharpness of it. Some days they're a sharp grey, and others they're slightly..." He pauses, searching for a word.

"Dull," I state.

"No, they're never dull. I was going to say that some days they're slightly softer, and warmer, and it's hard to paint that quality onto a canvas."

"I didn't know my eyes changed at all. What are they like today?" I'm slightly intrigued...not that it matters or anything.

"Soft. Like they were in the cave sometimes."

I hastily place the butterfly closure over his cut. I should have never asked what my eyes were like. Why does he always say stuff like that?

He's got a wistful look on his face, and I feel pangs of guilt all over again.

"Let's put some ice on it, ok? I don't want it to swell, and maybe it will keep it from bruising."

I grab some ice and move to place it on his face after I've bandaged him up. He moves away, trying to evade the cold ice.

"Peeta..." I say exasperated.

"It's cold, and I don't need it."

He gets up to leave, but I quickly place my legs on either side of him and pull him back down to the chair. He gives me an irritated look, but I plop the ice on his injury anyway. With the chill he grabs onto my legs unconsciously.

Suddenly we hear footsteps coming towards us. "You were always really good at tricking her into caressing you," Haymitch says, looking at Peeta briefly, before brushing past us to get a glass of water.

I release my legs, but he doesn't release his hands. I swat his hands off of me in embarrassment, and compress his face again with the ice.

"We should go back and finish the workout now," Peeta says.

"No," I say agitated. "You might have a concussion. You can't workout for the rest of the day."

My mom and Prim have taken care of a lot of miners with concussions from unanticipated, falling rocks. One day, my dad even came home with one, and my mom wouldn't let him go back to work the next day because of it. I watched her take care of him, staying by his side all day and all night. I remember feeling scared at the sudden vulnerability of my dad.

"I'm fine Katniss." He walks away and goes to fill up his water bottle at the tap.

I block him from turning on the faucet. "You need to take it easy."

He stares at me.

"Your pupils are uneven." He quickly looks away from me. "And I'm guessing you have a headache?"

"I'm fine."

"Do you have a headache?"

He looks down and avoids my scrutiny.

"Peeta..."

"Yes. I have a headache."

"What else is wrong?"

"I feel a little dizzy, but that's all."

"You need to lie down and rest." I turn his shoulders, despite his resistance, and march him over to the couch. I make him lie down, and tell him I'll fix him dinner here tonight.

I ask Haymitch to go to my house and tell Prim and my mom that they should just fix dinner for themselves. He leaves grumbling, "Yes mom."

After a few minutes, Peeta sneaks into the kitchen to help, but I shoo him away. He makes his way back a second time "to taste test the dinner," and I slap his hand away. I escort him back to the couch, and Haymitch snickers at him every time he comes back defeated.

"You need to learn to relax Peeta," he says. Peeta doesn't respond.

I bring out dinner for us, and we sit in the living room and eat so we can be with Peeta, who is lying on the couch. Peeta didn't have a whole lot in his fridge for dinner, probably because we always eat at my house, but he did have some chicken, so I made that with some rice.

"Someone needs to stay with you tonight, to keep an eye on your symptoms." I address Peeta, but the question lingers in the air for Haymitch too. "It can be whoever you want, and you can go wherever you want, but someone needs to watch over you."

I take another bite, but neither of them answers, so I swallow and continue. "Do you want to stay here?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to bring you a family member?"

"No, it's ok. They have to get up early to help with the bakery. They can't afford to stay up watching over me all night."

"And we can?" Haymitch says.

I shoot him a mean glare and he makes a face at me.

"Alright, then it's down to Haymitch, my mom, or me."

"I couldn't ask that of your mom. She already helps so many people everyday, and she goes to so much trouble to fix us meals."

"Ok, so Haymitch or me?"

He glances at both of us, as if it's a difficult choice. "You," he says looking at me.

"And I had my money on me," Haymitch says. We roll our eyes at him.

Haymitch gives us a skeptical glance. "Are we going to watch the Games tonight?"

I answer before Peeta can speak up. "No, let's take the night off. I slugged you pretty good. You don't need to worry about studying the Games tonight."

He starts to protest but I interrupt him. "Or if you'd prefer, I will watch the Games and take notes for you, so long as you rest."

He purses his lips and agrees.

"Well don't let me ruin your magical evening," Haymitch says, seeing an escape from the Games tonight. "Goodnight sweethearts." He walks out the door, and leaves us alone on the couch.

I turn on the Games and pull out Peeta's notebook. I flip to the last page of notes and something on the page catches my eye. Amidst the notes on Blain, he wrote "Katniss seemed sympathetic when Haymitch called him mentally unstable. She might want to ally herself with him."

Had I thought this? I search my mind as I watch Blain fight other tributes, and I can't help but find that his words have some truth. I _do_ want Blain as my ally if he is reaped. He knows how to gather food and is independent.

I didn't watch his interview, but I get the feeling that he is a boy of few words, well now a man of few words. And he is strong, despite being from District 10. His eyes meticulously scope the land for dangers that he spots before anyone else, and he remains hidden, while surveying a vast amount of the Arena at all times.

I watch him take down a Tribute from District 4 by making a circle in a rope and tossing it over the shoulders of the strong boy. He tugs at the rope quickly and finishes him off with a knife.

"He probably worked with livestock growing up," Peeta says, breaking my focus. I thought he was asleep. I even turned the television's sound off so he wouldn't be disturbed.

I turn off the Games. "Let's get you to your bed, okay?" I fumble for a moment, "Uh, I'll sleep on the floor in your bedroom. Is that okay?"

"I'm really fine Katniss. You don't have to stay here."

"I do. I'm the one who gave you a concussion."

"You don't even know if I have a concussion."

"Yeah, and whose fault is that? You wouldn't let me take you to my mom."

He sighs. "Fine." He leads me upstairs and I follow behind.

"Do you get lonely here?" I ask him. I worry about him being all alone. I'm sure he must miss his family even if his mom was horrid to him, and he seems like such a people person.

"I'm alright." His voice is clipped.

He settles some blankets and pillows on the floor, and we bid each other goodnight."

For a long time, I'm not sure if either of us falls asleep. It's almost comical how often we toss and turn, as if we're purposely responding to each other's movements. I got up to check on him once, but he sighed at me and said, "I'm fine Katniss. Please, go to sleep."

_Peeta and I flee a group of three Careers, who are right on our heels through the desert of Blain's Arena. We are the final five Tributes. Just a four more deaths and Peeta can go home. I pause every few seconds and let an arrow fly at the Careers. We're all panting hard, and sweating profusely from the heat._

_I have hit each of the Careers in the heart but every time I look back I find no arrow, and no trace of injury in their chest cavity. I shoot back at them one last time and stop when all three of them suddenly vanish into thin air. I scan the sky for a hovercraft, but see nothing._

_Peeta stops a few feet in front of me and starts walking back to me. "Katniss, where did they go?" "I don't know," I say perplexed and nervous. "Ah!" Peeta gasps. I whirl around to find him, sure that the Careers are back and they have him, but he's gone. "Peeta?" No sound. No sight of him, or the Careers. "Peeta? Peeta!" Have I gone mad?_

**Workout Day 13, Wednesday:**

"Katniss!" Someone is shaking my shoulders, and I wake up screaming "Peeta!" and jolt upright. I hit the person's head, and we both clutch our foreheads.

After a couple seconds I realize it was Peeta who woke me up, and I breathe a sigh of relief that he is alive and here in front of me. I open my eyes wide, and take all of him in. He's only wearing boxers right now, and my eyes linger on his bare chest and arms, before scanning his lower body and looking down in embarrassment.

Then I realize I hit his head again. _Dammit! That's the second time in twenty-four hours. And he might already be suffering from a concussion. Nice going Katniss..._

"Katniss, it's ok, it was just a nightmare," Peeta says, crouching down towards me and stroking my hair softly.

If I admit it, I really want him to hold me, just for a moment, like he used to when I had a nightmare. But he doesn't, and I wonder if he's thinking the same thing right now.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I look into his eyes; they're soft but tired. "Did you sleep at all?" I suddenly grasp his chin and examine his puffy eyes, then the new bump on his forehead, followed by the cut on his head.

All these afflictions seem to be because of me. I want to take them all away.

"How do you feel today?" I ask him.

"I'm fine, but I was yesterday too."

"Concussions aren't to be taken lightly Peeta."

"Then don't give them to me Katniss." His words sound mean, but his tone is light-hearted and we both end up laughing.

Somehow we wind up on his bed, and when I realize it I get up quickly and put my hands to work folding the blankets he gave me.

It's raining again today, so we go back to the school's gym despite Peeta growling at us. When we get to the school, an ancient-looking teacher walks into the hallway as we make our way to the weight room and startles us, "Haymitch Abernathy?"

"Mrs. Pratt?" Haymitch says bewildered.

"Little Mitch," she smiles. "How are you my boy?"

He scratches his head. "Uh, good. How are you? Do you still teach third grade?"

"Oh yes! I love teaching the third grade. The youngsters are so sweet. You were always one of my favorite pupils though." She pinches his cheek and smiles at him warmly.

He glances at us, begging us to save him, but we watch him with huge grins and stifled chuckles.

He glares at us. "It was lovely running into you Mrs. Pratt, but we've got an appointment to make. It's for the Quarter Quell, and we can't be late."

"Oh, of course Little Mitch. May the odds be in your favor," she says with a smile.

A shiver runs down my spine. I never liked our teachers. They talked about the Games flippantly, and I hated them for that.

We ditch Mrs. Pratt, and make our way to the gym to start on our daily routine. We jibe Haymitch, calling Little Mitch until he snaps and pushes our backs to the lockers.

"Call me Little Mitch one more time and you will regret it sweethearts."

"Alright, Haymitch. Let us go," Peeta says. He releases us, and we finally get to the weight room.

There are only a few schoolboys in here. They seem more impressed with their own muscles than with Victors being in their weight room, so I feel more comfortable here today. The boys flex for each other occasionally and I hear them mocking each other's "puny muscles."

I start bench-pressing, while Peeta and Haymitch are still working on legs. One of the boys there walks over to me and asks, "Do you need a spotter?" He smiles at me and I put the bar on the frame.

"No, she doesn't," Peeta interrupts. "I'm spotting for her."

The boy huffs at him, and walks back to his friends. I turn to Peeta, "What's a spotter?"

"It someone who safeguards a bench press lifting sequence."

I furrow my brows. That sounded like mumbo jumbo to me. "Uh what?"

He smiles. "I stand here and make sure the bar doesn't slip from your hands while you're lifting."

I look at the bar, and then at the weights on each end. _Oh, that would be bad._ I involuntarily clutch my throat.

"And make sure you don't do this without me again, ok?" He looks at me gravely.

I finish my sets, and switch places with him. Haymitch is up next and Peeta spots him. We break for lunch and head to the cafeteria where no one will be watching us.

Peeta asks us what we would like to do for combat training today and I say, "Why don't you teach us some wrestling moves?"

Peeta wrestles Haymitch first, for the second time since the Quell announcement. The match doesn't last very long, and Peeta only has to flip Haymitch onto his back with a couple movements for Haymitch to tap the mat.

"Peeta 2, Haymitch 0," I proclaim.

Peeta laughs and gives me a big smile, disregarding Haymitch, who moves swiftly to tackle him.

"Oof" Peeta exhales as Haymitch pins his shoulders to the mat.

I take on Peeta when he has clearly beaten Haymitch. He has fun pinning me into moves that make me feel like a pretzel.

I can tell he is enjoying himself, because while I grimace he smiles. He never brings me to the point of pain, but he gets me so tangled up that I have absolutely no clue how to unwind myself.

We hear a knock on the door while we eat dinner, and I open the door to find a damp-looking Madge clutching a small bag.

"Madge?"

She hears the dinner conversation and blushes a light pink. "I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I couldn't find you guys in the meadow today, and I wanted to bring you..."

"Oh, Madge, I'm sorry," I interrupt. I doubt she knows about the listening devices. "We didn't workout in the meadow today because of the rain." I usher her inside. "Thank you for bringing it by."

She nods at me. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" I ask her.

"Oh, thank you, but I just ate dinner with my parents. I'll just see you all on Sunday, okay?"

She puts the bag in my hand and scurries away. We read the newspaper after dinner outside so the bugs in the house don't record any conversation about the newspaper. We don't want to get Madge or her family in trouble.

The first few pages list every possible Victor from each District with a breakdown of their skills, Games statistics, and current age. Peeta rips it out and saves it in his notebook.

The rest of the newspaper talks about the wagers being placed on the Quarter Quell. Every so often a comment is made in an article that signals a disruption in the manufacturing of a certain District, and we make a mental note of them.

We make our way into Peeta's house when we start getting eaten by bugs. I carefully watch Peeta's expression when he opens his notebook. I hope I didn't disappoint him with poor note taking.

He looks at me, and smiles. "So, I was right?" he asks. I nod. I wrote "yes" next to his musings on me wanting to be Blain's ally.

"Good," he says, and looks back at his notes to write something else.

We finish Blain's Games tonight. He used that rope to bring down nearly every Tribute that he killed. Well, the rope and a knife he picked up off the first Tribute he killed.

I feel a sense of relief as soon as Peeta shuts off the television and Haymitch and I get up to leave. Another Games is finished. We try to keep up with Peeta's schedule, but it is simply unbearable to watch that much of the Games every night.

"Tell your mom I'll make breakfast tomorrow and I would love for them to join us," Peeta says before I walk out the door.

"Oh, alright. Thank you Peeta. They would love that."

**Workout Day 14, Thursday:**

My family and I walk over to Peeta's house for breakfast. My mom brings over some fresh juice, and helps Peeta set the table. Breakfast has been much more cheerful with all of us together.

Before my mom invited the guys over, Prim, my mom, and I ate with only a few shared words, and even fewer smiles.

Peeta and I try to figure out the contraption Effie sent us last week, and when Haymitch realizes we aren't going to give up on it so easily this week, he grabs the remote from us. He merely holds a couple buttons down at the same time and we see the screen light up with a colorful, animated "start" page.

The animations on the screen move and sway with background music. When we realize that the little remote Haymitch holds makes a tiny hand move across the screen Peeta and I lunge at him, and fight for control of the remote.

I push Peeta to the ground, and finally wiggle it out of Haymitch's hands. I move the hand to the word "start" on the screen, hit a bunch of buttons, and suddenly a noise dings at us and the page disappears.

A new page pops up, that has a slew of different animated characters on it. I watch them, completely dumbstruck, when the characters say things to us and give us winks and waves. I frown at them.

Peeta snatches the remote from me and starts pushing all the buttons he can find to try to coax a new page out of the television.

Haymitch nudges me and hands me a remote from the box. I hadn't realized there was more than one.

I take it quickly and point it to the screen. No new hand appears on the screen. I get frustrated and push Peeta out of the way so I am standing smack in front of the television wildly assaulting my remote.

"Hey!" Peeta exclaims. I look at him and he's scowling at me.

"Maybe you should take a nap. That scowl detracts from your looks."

"Are you calling me handsome?" He twitches an eyebrow up at me and pushes me out of the way so he's in front of the television screen.

I shove him back, and he uses one move on me to pin me to the ground. He sits on me victoriously, and starts clicking the buttons on the remote again.

"You both are acting like spoiled, little brats," Haymitch snickers at us. He jabs at a button on my controller, and I look at the screen to find my controller's hand moving.

After we tire of the games Effie sent us, we sit down on the couch and have lunch. We lie down in a food coma and quickly fall asleep.

A loud knock at the door sends Haymitch upright, slashing the air with his knife—this time it's a real one and I'm glad we're not close to him. Peeta and I wake up too, and he goes to answer the door.

A man in a grey uniform stands at the door with a small black box. He asks Peeta to sign it, and inquires as to where he should leave the shipment.

I look out the door and see a huge truck with a rectangular container big enough to fit all of the possessions in my house. The man takes us over to the container, and I peer inside.

"Peeta...you went ahead and got workout equipment without telling us?" I ask. I feel betrayed, but it's stupid. It's his life.

"Why not? It's my house. Besides, it's better than having those guys gawk over you all day."

"What?" I stutter.

"Oh don't pretend you didn't notice Katniss," he says dryly.

"There was nothing to notice."

"Like I said boy," Haymitch says. "She needs a lot of convincing."

I glare at him.

The man helps us unload the machines and boxes to the front yard, and we decide to spend the rest of the day setting up the weight room in Peeta's house, since we can't really think of any combat training we want to do today. Besides we might as well help him transport the stuff to the room.

Because of the machines, we decide to make one of the downstairs rooms the workout room. After a few hours we have everything set up, plugged in, and organized to Peeta's liking.

We break for dinner at my house and start the Games of a Victor, named Annis. She's very skilled with a mace, seeing as how she's from District 1. I instantly dislike her for being a Career, and then frown at myself because that's what we are trying to do this year.

Peeta and I may excel at the workouts and combat training, but Haymitch supersedes both of us when it comes to understanding survival techniques in the Games.

As Annis' Games go on, I ask him more questions about tips he knows to "stay alive." He has become less surly with his sobriety, and to my surprise he answers with less attitude.

**Workout Day 15, Friday:**

_It's not raining today!_ is my first thought when I open my curtains. At breakfast, it's clear that we are in much better spirits today since we won't have to be cooped up indoors.

Peeta carries a box that bears Effie's cursive to the meadow with us today, and I wonder what more she could have possibly sent us, and why she always sends things to him. Eh, she probably figures Haymitch and I would toss them. _It's true._

Peeta opens the box and pulls out a pair of small purple shorts that sparkle all over as if they have tiny diamonds on them. Knowing Effie, they _might_ have tiny diamonds on them. _What a waste._

"Oh, those most be for you, Peeta," Haymitch cackles.

He gives Haymitch a sour look and chucks them at Haymitch's face.

Haymitch sputters as if they've contaminated him and holds them up with one finger and looks my way.

"Have fun wearing these, sweetheart," he chuckles.

"I am not wearing those!" I say quickly.

"Why not? Everyone in the Capitol is wearing them," he says with a perfected Capitol accent.

Haymitch throws the shorts in my face, but I let them fall to the ground.

Peeta picks them up and says, "I've got a deal for you," he pauses to chuckle, "if you wear these, you can skip your push-ups today."

_Just today's push-ups, puh-lease. Not worth it. He better sweeten up the deal._

"Two weeks."

"No way!...3 days."

"1 week, no less."

"Deal," we shake hands.

Peeta walks me over to my old house, and I try them on in my bedroom. I walk out to show to show him, and he bursts into laughter.

"I'd add on pushups to not wear these," I say in disgust.

"That can be arranged," his face looks smug. I narrow my eyes at him.

I look down at the hideous, sparkly, purple shorts, if you can call them that. They feel more like underwear with the fabric just barely stretching down past my cheeks. I keep pulling them down, but that in turn pulls the top farther down my hips than I'm accustomed to. It feels like I'm playing tug of war on my hips.

_How can they possibly feel comfortable wearing these in the Capitol?_

"Give me a twirl" Peeta asks mischievously.

"No!"

"What? That's what the note from Effie told me to ask you."

I eye him, trying to figure out if he's telling the truth. "You're a liar."

He smiles, "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." He looks me up and down skeptically. "So, do we have a deal?" He fights a smile by biting his lips but it appears regardless.

"No," I spit out, make a peeved face at him, and walk backwards to my room to change into the pants Cinna sent me. He chuckles at me.

We workout as best as we can in the meadow, but the ground is still wet from the rains we've had this week, and our feet keep slipping in mud. It rained Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Grey clouds loom above us, threatening to drench us. We keep a close eye on them and try to finish our workout and combat training quickly. We eat lunch under our climbing tree, just in case it starts to rain on us.

**Workout Day 16, Saturday:**

I open my eyes and look outside praying for blue sky, and my heart sinks when I take in a sky of menacing dark grey clouds spewing water to the ground. It's not quite summer, but it's close, so I hadn't anticipated this many days of rain this week.

Peeta and Haymitch bolt over to my house for breakfast, and shake themselves off like dogs when they get inside. My mom hands them each a towel and they gladly dry themselves off. We sit by the fire for breakfast, and it is such a strange place to eat breakfast this close to summer.

Peeta tells us we can train at his house today, and Haymitch and I agree without hesitation. There's no point to go to the school gym anymore, not with a better weight room in Peeta's house.

We're about to walk in his new workout room for the first time, and I say, "Big day huh?"

"Yeah big, big, big!" Haymitch sneers.

Peeta and I laugh. "Ah, Haymitch made a funny!" I nudge his arm and give him a smirk.

Haymitch marches into the room and lies down on the bench where we will bench press, closing his eyes and trying to ignore us.

Peeta and I follow him in and get right to our daily routine. He bought three treadmills for us so we don't have to take turns. Peeta and I hop up on ours, and start them up right away for a warm-up jog.

Haymitch is now feigning that he's asleep on the bench by snoring. Peeta grabs the oversized rubber bands that Effie sent us, and starts throwing them at Haymitch to "wake him up."

Haymitch growls at him and chucks them back. He hops up on his machine and we do our workout as a comfortable silence spreads and we listen to the rhythm of our footsteps and breaths.

Peeta fixes us lunch, and we get right into combat training. Peeta says it's good to work on hand-to-hand combat since so many tributes end up fighting to the death that way. It's a gruesome, but practical way to look at it.

Peeta and Haymitch are much better than I am at hand-to-hand fighting, so they give me tips on what parts of my body are most susceptible to being pinned and what moves to use to avoid a pin.

I'm irritated that they are teaching me a defensive take on hand-to-hand fighting, but it's better than getting pinned again, like with Clove last year.

We finish Annis' Games tonight. It came down to her and her fellow Tribute from District 1. He had a spear, and she had her mace. It was one of those moments during the Games where you are desperate not to watch the outcome, but cannot look away.

They met back at the Cornucopia as if they had planned that all along. Maybe they did. The boy inched close to her, watching her like a hawk, and jabbed his spear at her heart. She twisted her body out of the way, and swung the mace at his feet. He jumped in the air and avoided it.

They circled each other for a while, similar to Haymitch and I when we were boxing, except we were having fun, not aspiring to kill each other.

The boy inched closer, but Annis backed up a couple steps. The boy followed her, and jabbed at her again, this time catching her shoulder. She had tried to spin away from it, but he was faster this time.

She howled in pain, and a smirk grew on his face. He yanked the spear out of her shoulder, threw his arm back quickly, and launched it at her heart. She fell to the ground before it made contact with her.

He arrogantly assumed it would be the final blow, so he put all of his energy into propelling it at her. His body teetered over her, spear still in hand, and Annis quickly grabbed his ankles. With all her strength she swept his feet off the ground and launched him as far as she could.

He was already falling over so he ended up flying away from her sideways. In his flight, he let go of his spear, and she grinned wickedly when she saw it hit the ground. She stepped on it as he reached for it, and swung the mace at his back hard.

He howled in pain, and Annis laughed. _Sick_. He furiously tried to retrieve his spear, but she pummeled him again and again with the mace until he scrambled to his feet and tried to run away.

She followed him sprightly, and whipped her mace at his legs, making him fall over again. She tormented him sadistically; hitting him in parts of his body that she knew wouldn't kill him.

He cried in pain, first pleading with her to stop, then shortly after pleading with her to take his life.

By this point, tears are streaming down my cheeks. I feel for this boy, like I did for Cato at the end. He didn't deserve to be tortured anymore than this boy.

_And how could she do that to someone from her own District? Did she know this boy? Did they go to school together? Sit next to each other in their classes?_

I look over at Peeta, and see silent tears rolling down his cheeks too. I grab his hand, and he gives mine a squeeze.

**AN: Thanks for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated! **


	4. Maces

**Chapter 4 – Maces**

**AN: Disclaimer: This fic is Gale/Katniss, but since she seemed to be fairly reserved with him during this time...my hands are a bit tied with their romance. (I don't like to purposefully go OOC.) However, IMHO, these are also the months Katniss starts to care for Peeta on a much deeper level. So, this is a heads up that there will be sweet moments between Gale/Katniss and Peeta/Katniss. Hopefully that won't cause too many problems.**

**Your reviews made my heart so happy :) Special thanks to: etf1975, veronique2 (x2), perdita4321, Ellenka, Pinklove21 (x2), moonlight goose, and HAPPY KID 21 for your reviews. Thank you to those of you who continue to read, and welcome to those just joining. It's good to have all of you!**

**I finally found my HG trilogy in a moving box! Hallelujah! I hate flying blind...Sorry about the wait for this chapter, I won't bore you with my excuses. The chap is incredibly long, disturbingly long...so hopefully that makes up for the wait. Let me know if this is too much detail? The comedy and sweetness are lacking in parts, but you'll see why. I hope you all enjoy.**

**Workout Day 17, Sunday:**

Peeta's POV

My eyes are groggy and heavy with too little sleep. When I did fall asleep, I jolted awake from a nightmare of Annis charging Katniss with her bloodied mace. I woke up breathing hard, and realized that it was still dark outside. I didn't make it to the sunrise again.

I lie in bed for what feels like hours. My memories and nightmares attack me with the disturbing images, and screams, and blood. I toss and turn in bed until I can't take it anymore, so I throw off the covers to go make some dough.

I don't understand Careers; well Careers that aren't me, Katniss, or Haymitch, because I could never do what Annis did to either of them. Just thinking of them dying in the arena makes me feel nauseated.

I take my frustrations out on the dough, like I've done every morning after the nightmares.

Sometimes I forget how brutal the Careers can be, which shouldn't seem possible since I spent time in the Career pack last year. Knowing our luck, all the Tributes this year are going to be brutal monsters, whether or not they are Careers. Maybe I should push us harder...we can't get caught off guard.

Katniss' POV

Breakfast is quieter than normal, and I have a hunch it's because Peeta and Haymitch didn't get much sleep either. My mom and Prim chatter on about the weather finally improving. But the sight of sun does nothing to make me feel giddy inside.

I just wish I could erase Annis' Games from my mind.

When we get to the Meadow, Gale isn't there yet, but strangely enough his snare box is. He must have already arrived, but had to go back for something, I guess.

Peeta doesn't even have to command us to start up in a light jog anymore, because it has become so engrained in our daily routine that we just start jogging when we arrive.

Peeta and I trot side by side, like two horses pulling a cart, while a winded Haymitch follows behind. The distance between him and us increases exponentially during the twenty-minute jog, and Peeta and I give each other a look before rolling our eyes at him.

"Is Gale not coming?" I ask Peeta, when we get back to the tree and he's still not here. I counted it as a given that he would be here every Sunday now.

I mean, it doesn't begin to compare with hunting on Sundays, but it's still the day of the week I most look forward to. My feelings for Gale are anything but simple, but he's still my best friend, and I feel at home when he's here.

Not that I don't enjoy being around surly Haymitch and demanding Peeta. My little, Victor family.

Peeta doesn't even get a chance to answer my question, because Gale hops out of the tree we're standing by, and scares the crap out of me.

"Gale!" I shriek. Dang, he is so good at sneaking up on me. I didn't hear him at all in the tree. I need to remember to watch out for him next time.

Gale laughs at me, stands by my side, and throws an arm around my neck. He leans his face close to my ear and says, "I get you every time, Catnip."

He runs a hand down my arm, feeling my goose bumps from the chilly morning. It's sunny, but not warm yet because it's not quite summer.

He starts rubbing my arm gently, but quickly, trying to warm me up.

"Why does he call you Catnip?" Peeta asks me. Gale jerks his head up, and drops his arm.

"Because she drives Buttercup crazy," he says, and then gives me a sideways glance, and we both start laughing.

"Yeah, that's probably exactly how Buttercup sees me huh?" I laugh.

"He's not the only one..." Haymitch mutters under his breath.

"No, but really? Is that why you call her that?" Peeta asks. His face says he wants a genuine answer.

"When we first met, she told me her name, but I thought she said Catnip," he tells Peeta. Gale turns to me, "and the nickname kind of stuck after that lynx kept following you."

He bumps my shoulder playfully, and I bump his back. "Too bad I had to take her down."

"She must have been drawn to you," Gale says quietly. His eyes contain the same velvety softness that just emanated from his voice.

"Alright, sweethearts, what are we learning today?" Haymitch chimes in. I think he tried to break the tension, but now we're all wondering if he was referring to Gale and me, or Peeta and me as 'sweethearts.'

"Well, let's start out with you guys showing me what you remember from the past weeks, and we'll go from there," Gale says.

He starts pulling materials out of the box, and lays them down by our feet. We all plop down onto the ground, and start looping the rope and tying our knots, while Gale stands and watches us intently.

But all of a sudden, Gale and I hear a noise coming from down the hill in the Meadow, and turn our heads at the same time to locate the critter we know is lurking around here. We see a scrawny, little rodent peek its head through the grass, probably looking for a hole to duck into.

Gale pulls a knife from his belt, and I instinctively reach behind my shoulder for an arrow, to grasp only air instead. My shoulders slump, but I noiselessly swipe my knife out of its worn, leather sheath, and stand up.

Gale and I stalk the rodent, just like in the past. I take one side, and Gale focuses on the other, but we move at the same pace, and we close the distance at an equal rate.

The rodent doesn't seem to notice us, and Gale gives me a quick look. We throw our knives at it at the same time, and both sink into the critter's flesh. It gives a quick squeak before it falls to the ground, lying motionless, dead.

We walk over to retrieve our knives, but hear another rodent scurrying through the tall grass. I quickly pluck it from the dead creature and whip my knife back to throw it, but from the corner of my eye I see something white. It's large and moving towards us.

I can't stop my knife at this point, but I shift my angle just before the release so that I miss the rodent. The blade lands in the grass, inches away from a Peacekeeper's foot.

My eyes go wide, and I sense Gale tensing beside me. I scan the Peacekeeper's face quickly, and realize that I don't know who it is, but he looks angry. It must be one of the hundred new Peacekeepers we received after the Quell announcement.

A new Peacekeeper means that he is not like Darius or Purnia, and we must be very, very cautious if we want to avoid being whipped, or hung.

"I'm sorry, sir," I say, lowering my head in submission. I will not let Gale and I be whipped today, especially not Gale. They can have me, but not Gale, never again.

Head Peacekeeper Thread would have a field day if he could torment both of us in one day, and I doubt that he would stop before killing Gale this time. Me, he can't kill because then Snow wouldn't have a girl Tribute for the Quell.

"Are you poaching?" the Peacekeeper asks with a very serious, yet monotonous voice.

"No sir, I saw these wild animals heading into town, and thought I had better kill them before they bit someone in the District, like yourself, sir," I say as rationally and submissively as I can. "It could be carrying a deadly disease."

Fortunately, he seems appeased by the logic, but unsure of our story. He examines the dead creature, and glances at the live one that is scurrying away from us as quickly as it can go.

He takes out a small pistol, and quickly shoots it through the head. He hands me back my knife, and grimaces seeing the creatures. In all actuality, these animals really don't look appealing to eat at all, bony and unhealthy looking. Gale probably wouldn't have even considered taking them home to his family.

I consider saying this to the Peacekeeper, but I think the better of it and keep my mouth shut. Knowing my mouth, it would just get me into more trouble, and if Gale is keeping quiet it means I should too.

"Next time, alert us before killing the animal on your own, or there will be consequences," the Peacekeeper says. He picks up the kills by their tails, and heads away from us.

When we turn to go back up the hill, we see Peeta and Haymitch watching us, looking incredibly worried, even Haymitch, which is strange because he hardly ever looks worried.

"Never again!" Haymitch spits out at both of us when we make it back to where they are waiting.

I hang my head down because I'm feeling ashamed and scared that I almost put Gale back in Thread's hands. I don't know what I would have done. What a fool I am!

Gale tries to lighten the mood and starts up a conversation, which Peeta easily keeps going. It's weird for me, to be in conversations with both of them, but they seem to be trying hard to keep their antipathy at bay.

"Come here," Gale says to me, once Peeta and Haymitch have started walking back towards the snare materials.

He pulls me into a tight hug, and I allow it, because it feels so good to be in his arms knowing he's safe. He's not going back to the whipping post, even though it could have easily happened.

"It's ok," he whispers to me.

"You could have been taken again," I say fearfully.

"But I'm not, and you're not, and it will never happen," he says. He pulls away to look into my eyes. "We just have to not act on instinct for a change."

He gives me a quick smirk, and I can't help thinking it's strange that he's smiling, although, he's always been more of a rule breaker than me.

We walk over to Peeta and Haymitch, and Haymitch sticks out his hand towards us.

"What?" I ask to his hand.

"Your knives, please," he says.

We sigh, but hand them over. Gale examines the snares we made from memory, and commends us on what we did right. He pinpoints exactly where each of us can improve, and has us try again. After he feels we've mastered those, he teaches us a drag noose.

The drag noose snare essentially slows our prey down by tying a bulky object to their foot so that it catches on the brush and vegetation around them. It won't stop them dead, or kill them, but it will give us time to catch them if we're around.

It's a complex snare, much more complex than the simple snares we've been learning, and so after lunch and reading Madge's newspaper, we go right back to work on mastering it.

I'm relieved that by the end of the day neither Gale nor Peeta have claimed to gain another point in whatever bet they have going. I have a feeling the bet isn't over yet, and I think that I'm somehow involved in it.

After dinner, Peeta and I do the dishes for my mom, as Prim massages Gale and Haymitch's muscles. We hear little ooh's and ahh's from the kitchen, and can't help but smile, knowing Prim really does have the magic touch when she goes into masseuse mode. She pinpoints our sore muscles just by looking at our posture, and then her tiny fingers work miracles all over our backs and arms.

"We have to start a new Games tonight," Peeta says glumly when the silence seems to be too much for him.

_"Do we have to?" I ask quietly. I don't know if I can handle watching a bloodbath day after yesterday's 'finale.'_

Peeta looks at me. I try to muster up some courage and take back my words, but I really don't want to watch the Games tonight, or ever again for that matter.

"Katniss, we can't skip days. We have to keep on schedule." He sees my face fall, and adds, "But if you want, you can skip the Games tonight. I can fill you in on what the Victor's fighting techniques are, but you won't have to watch the deaths."

His eyes are soft and kind, blue pools of warmth that I don't deserve.

He is filled with a surprising inner strength, despite his soft actions. I mean, has the Hunger Games ever had a Victor that baked and painted before? One that always chose love and self-sacrifice over what he wants and deserves, over his life?

Every time I try to pay him back for what I owe him, he does something else that adds to my list of debts to him, and I don't need another debt tonight.

"No, I won't let you watch it alone," I say.

"I won't be alone," he smiles. "I've got Haymitch."

I laugh. It might be better to be alone than to have Haymitch around tonight. After last night's finale he walked away muttering something about a drink. He would have been trashed if there had been any available liquor around, and I can't imagine he will be pleasant to be around tonight.

But I can't skip out on it. "I owe you too much already, Peeta," I say definitively.

His face takes on a serious look. "It's not about who owes who. Besides, I'm not saying you can get out of knowing the Victor's fighting style, you just don't have to watch it for one night if you can't handle it."

At that, a fire burns inside of me. Who does he think he's calling a coward? "I can handle it," I say bitingly. He smirks back at me.

We all make our way over to Peeta's, including Gale, and we sit down in our normal spots. Peeta puts in the tape of the next living Victor, who was from District 2. His name is Vicenzo Galati, and I can't help but think that his name even sounds like he has Capitol breeding.

Apparently Gale is thinking the same thing, because he says, "Vicenzo Galati? What—was he raised in the Capitol or something? I bet his parents taught him that winning the Games would be an honor."

"Gale..." I warn, and let him see my eyes flit around the room, saying,_ knock it off with the Capitol hating. Remember that the houses are bugged._

He quiets down, and settles into working out his frustration on my back and shoulders. Who am I to complain? His massages are divine, maybe even better than Prim's, although I would never tell her that.

Peeta forgets to fast forward through the reaping and the interviews tonight, so we sit here and watch as Vicenzo volunteers a mere second after the original Tribute's name blared through the speakers in District 2.

"Aw, the heart of a Career volunteer," Gale mocks at Vicenzo, even though he can't hear him. But he quickly slides back into his normal sense of humor. "Not that the heart of a volunteer is something to be trifled with," Gale says teasingly. "Volunteers are usually quite deadly."

"Yes, I'm quite ferocious huh?" I mock myself. He's mocked me about being a lethal hunter before, but he doesn't normally tease me about being a lethal Victor.

I bet if I watched my own Games I might think I was a pretty deadly Tribute to come across. I remember the fear in Foxface's expression after we ran into each other at the start of the Games. Then I blew up all of the supplies at the Cornucopia. Glimmer died when I dropped the tracker jacker nest on her, and then I shot Marvel in cold blood. Finally, with one arrow and a bad angle, I took down Cato.

"Is that how people see me?" I ask no one in particular.

"Yes," Haymitch responds. "And it's a good thing because you really muck it up when you fawn over Tributes that are weak allies," he pauses to give me a pointed look. "You need to keep up the dangerous, unpredictable persona when you're in the Games. Got it?"

I'm stunned momentarily. Haymitch doesn't normally offer so much advice to Peeta or I while we watch the Games. He mostly just sits there, plastered into one of Peeta's large chairs, and stares blankly at the screen, answering a question here and there about the Victor's personalities. He offers those tidbits sometimes without us asking, but even that is a rare occurrence.

I nod my head in response to him, and he addresses Gale next. I feel him tense up beside me.

"And Gale, you need to be prepared for the angles we're going to have to work when we get to the Capitol. Now, I know you were surprised when I told you that you were Katniss' cousin last year, but we'll try to prepare you better this time around."

"Why? You didn't care about me before."

"I didn't know about your involvement before," Haymitch says.

Gale gives me a quick glance, and then says, "I appreciate the heads up, but how can you know how to prepare me anyways?"

"Because I've been around for a while," Haymitch says.

"You sure have, old man," I joke.

Haymitch ignores me and continues, "The angles in these Games are likely to be extremely emotional during the interviews, especially regarding Katniss, and as you know, that sets the stage for the Games."

"Okay, that seems pretty self explanatory," Gale says slowly, his face showing his puzzlement.

"Last year, we had the star-crossed lovers angle," Haymitch says. "This year, it's likely that will continue."

Gale shifts in his spot and lets out a brief huff, and I bite the inside of my lip. I don't like this conversation.

"Seeing as how they are publicly engaged, it's likely that Caesar will ask them some intimate questions about their relationship," Haymitch says carefully. It feels like he's navigating through a conversational minefield. "The Capitol audience will be itching for gossip—things like the current status of their relationship, they're intentions throughout these Games, and little things like what went on during the last year."

_Where's this going Haymitch...?_

Gale gives Peeta a quick look, holding back a glare but clearly not thrilled with him, and turns back to Haymitch. "So, what are you saying? They're going to make things up for the crowd and sponsors?"

"Some things," Haymitch says.

Gale's eyebrows knit together and can't conceal his scowl this time. "What things?" He begins asking Haymitch, but finishes the question staring at me, waiting for my response. His look is hard and shows his uncertainty.

Crap. _I hate you Haymitch._ I shrug like there are no "things" and scrunch my face up in a puzzled look, but I have a feeling that Haymitch is alluding to Peeta spending the night with me on the train, or at his house last week. Maybe, he's thinking of the days that Peeta spent with me on my bed helping with my family's plant book, or the times we sat by the fire in my house when it was snowing outside.

Come to think of it, I have done "things" since the Games that could have potentially hurt Gale even more. My heart suddenly feels like it weighs a hundred pounds, anchoring me to the couch. Oxygen and words fail me, and I can't find it in me to condemn or defend myself.

Peeta shifts slightly, which only further alerts Gale's suspicions. "What things?" he asks exasperatedly to Haymitch.

"Just don't be surprised if Caesar takes an interest in how they spend their nights. People in the Capitol let their minds go a little wild, and Caesar has asked questions like that before."

Haymitch just barely finishes his sentence before Gale stands up, and stalks away from us all. I fly off the couch and run after him, once the shock ceases immobilizing my body.

"Gale!" I say before he slowly shuts the door in my face.

My head is reeling, and I can't seem to breathe. Gale is hurting, bad. If he was just angry he would have said some choice words, or slammed the door on his way out, but he couldn't even look at me and wouldn't stop when I called for him. He shut the door calmly, miserably...not angrily.

Pain radiates through my body, but my desire to fix this is stronger than the pain. I throw the door open and run after him.

"Gale, wait. I can explain," I start, _the beginning of every good conversation_, I think wretchedly.

He doesn't stop or even slow down, but instead takes longer strides. He covers the ground walking as fast as I do while running to catch up.

"Please, Gale, it's not like that at all. Peeta and I aren't together, and you know that."

He stops and I nearly run into him. Our bodies are close together, and he has to tilt his head down to look into my eyes. "I thought you weren't, but maybe I was just fooling myself."

I don't feel like I've earned his distrust, but I can't deny the guilt ebbing through my heart, and the guilt doesn't sting, it throbs.

"You aren't," I say, knowing it's not enough to repair the damage, but it's a start.

"Just _tell_ me what you're hiding from me," he bites out.

"We've spent time together at my house, but we're just friends," I explain. "Well, we were, but I'm not sure if we're really even that right now," I pause, and take a deep breath. "And last week I watched him overnight because he had a concussion."

"A concussion?" Gale asks unconvinced.

"Yeah, it was my fault."

"What?" he asks confused.

"I punched him," I state.

Gale's jaw drops a little, and he's struggling with his emotions. In a normal circumstance, he might laugh at that, but he's still upset.

"Well you could tell Caesar that..." he says mockingly, and wearily rubs the bridge of his nose.

I would laugh, but this situation isn't funny for either of us.

"So you did spend the night at his house? Here?" he asks obviously hurt, and ticked off that I didn't tell him.

"Yes," I say quietly.

"In his bed?" he asks, with a little more venom in his voice this time.

"No! I slept on the floor."

"But you were in his room?" he asks, but it sounds more like a statement he is trying to absorb by saying it out loud.

"Gale, someone had to stay with him. My dad had a concussion once and my mom watched over him all night."

"I've had a concussion before, and I was fine Katniss. It sounds like you're just making up a reason to be with him."

"I'm not," I insist.

He shakes his head in disbelief, his eyes flaring with pent up anger that he can't hold back anymore.

I move in closer and ask, "When did you have a concussion?"

He backs up and doesn't respond to my question, so I double back to the more important topic.

"I'm not making up a reason to be with him," I try to reassure him, but it doesn't work because he turns away from me, and walks away.

I don't follow, because I know I have nothing to say. I have no way to defend myself against actions that I _did_. An overwhelming rush of fear invades my body, and I feel just like I did those long months ago after the Games on our rock in the woods, and in the cabin by the lake when I feared I might lose him forever.

How do I fix it this time? Those times, I had a legitimate reason for pretending to be with Peeta. As I look back over my recent actions, I find that every intimate moment I've had with Peeta since then was not for the cameras or anyone else. Is Gale right?

...But I merely thought of Peeta as a friend in those moments. Does that make any difference?

I walk back to my house in the Victor's Village, because I don't feel like facing anyone right now. I just want to stay in my room, and escape from life for a little while. I need to think of a way to fix this, and I can't do that while I'm watching the Games.

**Workout Day 18, Monday:**

Haymitch and Peeta walk in to my house together for breakfast, but I'm waiting by the door for Haymitch, and before he can set his foot down in my house I yank him back outside, and slam the door behind a startled Peeta.

"What the hell was that for last night?"

"You're going to have be a little more clear, sweetheart."

"Why did you tell Gale I spent the night with Peeta?"

"It's better this way. For his sake."

"You had no right to interfere," I insist.

"Actually, I do. It's called the truth, and it's supposed to set you free. We all have to live with your actions as much as you do."

"Well Gale misunderstood what happened. You made him read into it, and you know it."

"I honestly didn't think it would surprise him all that much."

"What?" I'm confused. Me spending the night at Peeta's was a first, so Gale would not be accustomed to the idea of it being a possibility.

"He knows about you and Peeta on the train."

"How?" My heart sinks, and a million questions flood my brain. _He knows? Who told him? How long has he known? What does he think about that?_

"You, sweetheart," Haymitch says simply. "You told him."

"I did not!" I would have remembered that conversation...

"You said it after you fell asleep on your betrothed's shoulder."

My eyes go wide, and I desperately rack my brain to remember this happening. "What...I did...what? And Gale was there?"

So, Gale knew that Peeta and I spent our nights together on the train? And I fell asleep on Peeta in front of Gale?

Haymitch sighs. "Yep, we were all there. Peeta pushed you into Gale's arms when you fell asleep. How did you think you woke up on him?"

"I..I"

"I'm going to go eat breakfast now, sweetheart," Haymitch says, bored with my boy troubles. "Don't let me know when you've got all this figured out, okay?"

He swings the door open, and Peeta has to move aside to let him in. His mouth was open, but he shuts it after he realizes we've caught him. He walks in front of Haymitch, and I follow a few paces behind both of them.

I don't say anything during breakfast, even though I think Prim asks me a question or two. I'm trapped in my mind, feeling like I betrayed both Gale and Peeta. As if I am continually betraying them both, and they patiently put up with me. They love me-despite my selfishness, my deceit, and my complete lack of commitment to both of them.

And I really buried myself if what Haymitch said was true. Did I really fall asleep on Peeta? And say something about our nights on the train? I feel betrayed by my subconscious. But I guess I really should have told Gale everything. He shouldn't have had to find out that way...

I stop eating at some point during the meal. I feel too sick with myself to fill my stomach anymore.

Madge is already waiting for us in the Meadow when we arrive, but Peeta asks her if we can do a quick warm up jog first. She nods and smiles at us, and then giggles at Haymitch, who is grumbling behind us.

We take off like normal, Peeta and I in front, side by side, and Haymitch dragging his feet behind us. After he is a good ways behind us, Peeta asks, "Do you have any other nicknames?"

_What? Is he still thinking about Gale's nickname for me? Even after all that drama?_

"No, I don't," I respond, not all that surprised. I never had many friends who would give me nicknames. "Unless you count, 'sweetheart'?" I breathe out a laugh.

Peeta laughs. "No. Can I give you one?"

I look at him intrigued, but skeptical. I didn't even like Gale's nickname at first, and I certainly don't like 'sweetheart.' I raise my eyebrows, and say, "maybe...?"

He smiles, and looks hesitant, but finally says, "Kit Kat?"

I scrunch my face in disgust. "Kit Kat?" I ask in mock horror.

Peeta lets out a laugh. "Alright, maybe it's not the best nickname, but when Portia found out that I liked hot chocolate, she gave me a candy bar, you know, when we were getting ready for the interviews. It was called a 'Kit Kat' bar, and when I saw it, I laughed. I thought it was a District 12 wrapper for that candy bar, some promotional thing, like they nicknamed it after you."

I laugh at him. "Peeta, that's ridiculous."

"I know," he laughs. "But that's what I thought, nonetheless, and I've always liked that as a nickname for you. In my head I mean."

I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"I never tried it out on you, because I was sure that if you had a bow and arrow in hand you would shoot me for calling you that," he teases.

I give his shoulder an exasperated push, and immediately feel bad when he stumbles because of his prosthesis. I catch his arm and steady him. He throws me an appreciative glance. "I might have," I resign with a mischievous smile. "Was it good?"

"What?"

"The Kit Kat bar," I say.

"Oh. Yeah, it was the best thing there," he says, as if he's craving one right now. His eyes have a strange glint to them.

We've just finished our last lap around the Meadow, and are slowing our pace to a walk back to where Madge is waiting for us. It might take Haymitch a minute to catch up with us because of how far behind he always falls, so we grab our water bottles.

"You can call me what you want, Peeta," I say, catching his eye before gulping down some water.

The look on his face tells me he's surprised I would even consider letting him call me that, and he's unsure if he could really get away with it if he tried.

"Good, now you've stopped moping," he says, surprising me, his tone going from playful to sober.

"You...tricked me?" Is 'tricked' even the right word? It must be if I feel like the one who was played a fool.

"I didn't trick you, I just took your attention off of last night," he says. "You needed to laugh. And now we can workout without you dragging your feet like Haymitch."

I blink my eyes in disbelief. Peeta was joking about the Kit Kat nickname? Well, it worked. He's a tricksy one. I shake my head, and make my way over to our yoga formation.

Haymitch is sitting down, criss cross applesauce style with his hands floating in the air in a strange formation. He's pinching his thumb and forefinger together on each hand, and holding his hands palm up. His eyes are closed, and I sit down beside him and adopt his pose, before giving the back of his head a swift "Smack!" and retuning to the pose innocently.

I hear him huff at me, and I reopen my eyes to look at him and find him scowling at me. I raise my eyebrows questioningly. His scowl deepens, and I just give a curt nod towards Peeta. He reaches over and smacks Peeta on the back of the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" he says to Haymitch, who doesn't respond back.

I close my eyes and smile. _And you say I'm a bad liar._

Madge takes us through our normal yoga routine, adding in a new twist or variation here or there, but I have to admit that I feel a little bored. Of course, I'd rather be hunting than doing any of these workouts.

However, she suddenly gets a very serious look on her face, and says, "watch closely."

She positions herself into 'mountain,' slides her head down until it's resting on the ground, and slowly walks her feet towards her head.

I'm pretty sure my head is actually cocking to the side. What is she doing?

Then with a swift, strong movement she pulls her lugs straight up into the air.

She is doing a headstand! Madge! We look at her in awe...and bewilderment as she keeps her upside down body entirely motionless. You would think she was a statue if you didn't see her breathing. _How on Earth is she doing that!_

She lowers her legs into a V, while maintaining her headstand, and now even Peeta and Haymitch's heads are cocked to the side. We must look like a bunch of idiots. Sweet, blonde Madge is kicking our butts at yoga. And we're supposed to be the Victors here...I bet not one of us could do what she's doing right now.

However, it's not like a headstand will really be useful in the arena. Right? You can't bewilder your opponent to death. While it's not a fatal technique, it's still impressive.

She has us try out a headstand, but we fail miserably.

The first time I tried it, I simply placed my head on the ground, and whipped my legs into the air with wild abandon. A split second later, my legs swung up, past the center point, and catapulted me to the ground, turning me into a crumpled heap with a sore back.

Peeta's attempt was more controlled than mine, because he learned what not to do from me. When he pulls his legs up in the air he doesn't put as much effort into it so he doesn't flip over like me, except his legs don't get high enough and keep falling back to their original spot.

Haymitch is having trouble because his hands are still shaky from sobering up, so when he tries to pull his legs up his shaky hands offer little support. He's up in the air for less than a second before he falls down onto his head.

Madge is so encouraging to all of us, even though we are awful compared to her. Having her around is a real breath of fresh air, because she brings no tension or drama, and she seems to lighten all of our moods just by being around. In that way, her and Peeta are very similar.

After we're done with yoga, Madge eats lunch with us, but she makes a point of us sitting apart from Haymitch and Peeta. "We need a little girl time," she explains to the boys, as she leads me away with a smile.

We settle down on the grass, and worry fills her calm expression. "Okay, what's wrong Katniss?"

I open my mouth to say that nothing is wrong, but this is Madge, and she's probably the only person I can open up to about Gale and I.

"Gale found out that I spent the night at Peeta's," I say, while plucking a few blades of grass.

Her eyebrows lift in surprise. "When did you do that?"

"Last week. He had a concussion and he lives all alone. My mom told me that when someone has a concussion they shouldn't be left alone for twenty-four hours."

She nods, and waits patiently for me to continue.

"That's not the first time we've spent the night together though."

"Katniss, all of Panem knows that," she interrupts with a chuckle.

"During the Victory Tour, I had really bad nightmares. Peeta always woke me up from them, and calmed me down. It wasn't long before he was staying with me, because I had so many nightmares."

"Does Gale know about all of that?"

"He knows we've spent those nights together, but he doesn't know why."

"Explain it to him. I think he'll understand once you do," she says.

"I'm not sure he will. I've done so much to drive him away already. Besides, maybe it's better this way."

"Katniss, I saw him every once in a while during the Games, and he was a wreck," she says sadly, "but I knew that no matter what he saw, no matter what you and Peeta did, he was still crazy about you. That's not going to change."

I look up at her, and give her a weak smile.

Part of me hopes she's right, and part of me hopes she's wrong, but I determine that maybe Haymitch and Madge are right; maybe it's better if he just knows everything. So I'll put it all out there, and let the chips fall where they may.

After the workout and combat training is over, I stop by Gale's house to work things out with him. Hazelle opens the door and exclaims, "Katniss! Come in, we need to talk."

My face goes blank for a moment, but I follow her inside. _What do we need to talk about?_

"Is Gale here?" I ask her, when I don't see anyone around.

"No, he's been keeping to himself since last night," she says. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

My cheeks turn pink. Hazelle has a way of getting me to blush.

"Did something happen yesterday when he was teaching you guys snares?" she asks.

I take a deep breath. "No, it was when we were watching the Games. He watches them with us," I tell her, because I'm not entirely sure he told her he watches those with us.

"Oh, I see. Did he see something that upset him?"

"Mm, more like heard something. Do you know when he will be around?"

"Normally he would be here in about an hour."

"Oh. Well, when you see him, will you tell him that I need to talk to him, please?"

"Of course, maybe you can help him stop moping," she says with a small smile.

I head back to my house, and take a hot shower to try to steam away my thoughts, but it's useless. All through dinner I silently wonder about how I got myself into this mess. The thought of losing Gale throws my mind into chaos, which is stupid really, since it's better this way.

It's better if he moves on, but why does that make me feel so empty inside? It's not like I will be coming back anyways. Our doomed relationship will end at the reaping, a divided pair of actual star-crossed lovers.

We settle into our spots at Peeta's house to watch the Games, and Peeta starts filling me in on all the things I missed when I left to follow Gale and never came back. He seems to be a little irritated that I didn't ask him what I missed yet.

I sort of expected Peeta to fill me in on the details of the Victor's fighting skills, so the fact that he wanted me to ask for them is news to me.

"Okay, Peeta," I say exasperatedly. "I'm sorry. Can't we just watch the Games now? I mean, he'll be using the same fighting techniques won't he? And he's probably like a million years old, so what does it matter?"

I don't mean to sound so unkind, but Peeta is getting under my skin. He's starting to become even more demanding, and it's driving me nuts.

"Katniss, it's important that we know everything we can about our enemies," he says authoritatively.

"I agree, but we aren't even sure if he _is_ going to be a Tribute this year," I say.

"We don't know that he _isn't_ going to be a Tribute," Peeta challenges, "and we won't have time to watch twenty three Games after the reaping."

"Oh, just shut up both of you, and start the damn tape," Haymitch gripes.

Haymitch tells us that the Victor of these Games, Vicenzo, had a child reaped in another Games. Although I don't really like the fact that he's a Career volunteer, I do pity the fact that he had to endure his own child being reaped in the Games.

"Did the child make it out?" I ask quietly.

Haymitch looks at me, and wordlessly shifts his lost gaze back to the television screen.

_No. _It's just like Gale said, a Victor's child is easily reaped, and easily discarded by the Capitol. It only reaffirms my belief in not having children, not that it matters for me anyways. I will never be pregnant.

I squirm and fidget in my spot on the couch, until Peeta puts a hand on my leg, and lifts his eyebrows up at me. I try to calm my nerves, but the thought that being crowned Victor forced Vicenzo's family into the Games has locked my mind on the likelihood that Prim will be reaped in future Games.

Because wouldn't that be an exciting 'event' for the Capitol? I can see the statements in The Capitol Tribune now:

"Girl on Fire's sister to join her family legacy in the 76th Hunger Games!"

or...

"Twice reaped Primrose Everdeen, the odds are not in your favor."

or...

"Will Primrose Everdeen be our next Girl on Fire?"

Peeta and Haymitch got through most of Vicenzo's Games last night, and I wonder what pushed them to go that far. Do I hold us back from going through them faster? Or was Peeta just upset, and watched more of the Games in order to keep his mind busy?

Peeta tells me that Vicenzo's weapon of choice is the sword, and it's easy to see why. He might be smaller than Cato in size, but he is much more skilled with a blade. As much pain as Peeta was in, I'm glad that Cato wasn't as skilled with a sword, because Peeta's still alive.

"Well, he's more skilled than Cato, that's for sure," I say to note taker Peeta.

"Why do you say that?"

"Vicenzo only needs to make one slash, and they die within seconds," I say with a shudder.

"Cato was a pretty skilled fighter," Peeta says.

"He didn't take you down."

"Well, maybe I'm a more skilled fighter," he says with a smirk.

"Or maybe you have the constitution of a bear," I tease.

He looks at me for a few moments, and says, "How can I argue with someone who fights bears?"

I laugh, "Peeta, I don't fight bears. I just steal their honey."

"Still, I wouldn't want to see you in the woods, even if I was a huge bear," he says with a laugh.

I roll my eyes, and we go back to watching the rest of Vicenzo's Games. The Careers were the only ones left at the end, so instead of breaking up and scouring the Arena for the rest of the Tributes, they simultaneously turned on each other. Vicenzo took down three of them with the sword, and the girl Tribute from District 1 took down the third final Tribute, so then it was just down to the two of them.

Both were skilled with the sword, and the battle seemed to be infinite. For nearly two hours, they hacked at each other, dancing around with blades leading the way, flipping over each other, and swiping at each other's feet.

They hardly ever made contact with each other's flesh, but the girl's strength waned and she started struggling with his fast movements. His footwork was almost breathtaking to watch, and it almost seemed as if he had practiced in this exact spot thousands of times. He constantly bounced off of rocks to launch himself at her from a different angle.

With his footwork, and her exhaustion, it was easy to see when the kill shot was coming. Vicenzo zipped around her and made fast swipes at her legs until she was backed into the middle of a boulder. In the exact moment her back collided with the rock, he thrust his sword into her abdomen. She keeled over, and with a horrific swoosh, he decapitated her. Boom!

We sit there stunned in silence, and even Peeta doesn't get up to turn it off right away I hear his pen scratching down notes furiously.

Haymitch gets up to leave, pulls me up off the couch, and gently pushes me out the door. "Night, Peeta!" he calls before shutting the door.

I make my way upstairs, and run smack into someone when I go through my door.

"My mom told me you wanted to see me?" Gale whispers. It's dark, but I can make out that he's still angry.

"Yes, I wanted to explain everything," I whisper back.

I take a deep breath, hoping I'm breathing in courageous air. "I should have told you what happened last week...and on the train."

He exhales loudly, but doesn't say anything.

"Last week, I was just trying to do the right thing by staying with Peeta. He lives alone, and he didn't have anyone else to take care of him."

"And during the Victory Tour, I couldn't sleep," I continue. "The nightmares were so bad that Effie gave me sleeping pills, which only made the nightmares worse. The night I took the sleeping pills, Peeta came into my room and woke me up from the nightmare. It took me a long time to calm down, and the next thing I knew, it was morning. He woke me from my nightmares every night after that."

I give him some time to process all of that, while his eyes search my face.

"Did anything happen?" he asks hesitantly.

"No."

He lets out a sigh of relief, and immediately I see his features soften. "I wish you would've just told me all that, Catnip."

"I should have. I know."

He chuckles. "I've never been the jealous type until you came along."

My cheeks flush, but I doubt he can see that in the darkness of my room. "Does my family know you're here?" I ask.

"Mm..I don't think so," he laughs quietly. "I didn't mean to sneak up here without them knowing, but they were asleep when I got here, so I just waited up here for you to come back."

I don't know why, but it gives me pause that Gale is in my room at night without my mom and Prim knowing. Last week, when Gale carried me to bed it felt different than tonight. I'm so much more aware of his silver eyes that even in the dark notice everything about me so naturally, and I can sense his body getting closer to mine. It's almost imperceptible, but I notice it, and I wonder if it's been there all this time, and I just never saw it.

Gale smiles playfully down at me, bites his lip, and shakes his head at me.

"Why are you laughing?" I ask, my voice faltering slightly.

He pulls me into a tight hug, laughing faintly. Then I'm betrayed with a loud "hiccup!" Gale laughs loudly, and he has to hold a hand over his mouth to muffle the noise.

"It's not funny," I hiss at him. I break out of his embrace, and cross my arms over my chest.

"Oh, Catnip, yes, it is," he says, shaking his head at the ground and smiling at an old memory. He sighs and says, "I've got to go home. I've got an early start. Night, Catnip."

After he leaves, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I think, just for tonight, maybe my nightmares will be replaced with a good dream.

**Workout Day 19, Tuesday:**

After we do our regular workout, Peeta leaves to go to the bakery, and Haymitch and I assume that it's just to eat lunch with his family, until he comes back with his brother that's just two years older than us.

"Ryker, this is Katniss and Haymitch," Peeta introduces us. "Guys, this is my brother, Ryker."

"Nice to meet you," I say politely, the way my mom raised me. Haymitch just nods his head at Ryker.

"He's going to help us with hand to hand combat," Peeta says.

"Ready, hush puppy?" Ryker asks Peeta.

"When you are, hoecake," Peeta says, and with that his brother launches forward at him. Well, Peeta is clearly the more patient brother.

Hush puppy and hoecake? Well I suppose when your family owns a bakery you grow up with nicknames related to bread.

They wrestle for a while, with Ryker pinning Peeta three out of five times, and with an irritated face, Peeta grabs his water bottle and chugs it.

"So, Katniss, answer me this..." Ryker begins.

I turn to him, and raise my eyebrows for him to continue.

"What is going on with you and my baby brother?" he asks mischievously.

"Uh..." I spit out eloquently.

But just then Haymitch saves me. _Yes! Thank you, Haymitch._ "Well, well, well, it looks like there's more than one Mellark that could vie for Caesar Flickerman's job." He laughs at me and shakes his head.

His brother looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to answer. Thanks a lot, Haymitch. You could have helped a little more.

"We're training to be Careers," I say casually, trying to re-direct the conversation.

But it doesn't work. "Oh, you're not getting off that easily," he laughs as if he's known me forever and this is typical, comedic behavior from me. "We we're just saying the other day at dinner that we hardly ever see our little hush puppy anymore, and we've got bets going for all kinds of different reasons. My bet is that you and him are secretly dating."

"That's not a secret," I say without thinking. I whip my hand up to my mouth to block any more stupidity from exiting my lips. My cheeks flush with embarrassment.

I glance over at Peeta. His eyebrows are raised higher than I've ever seen them. He's shocked, and so am I. How could I say something so stupid? Of course we're not dating.

"Oh it's not? Care to elaborate?" his brother says with a sly grin.

"No," I say quickly. I can tell that his brother still isn't going to let me off the hook, so I continue. "We're engaged, so how could we be secretly dating?"

He stares at me for a while, trying to read me, but gives up on the interrogation and surprise tackles Peeta. They fall to the ground with a 'thump' and wrestle around for a few minutes. _Brothers really are different than sisters._

Peeta and Ryker take on Haymitch and I as pupils, each of them teaching one of us their best moves and then rotating.

"You're good at keeping secrets," Peeta says mischievously once he's got my chest pinned to the ground. "Because even I didn't know we were secretly dating."

He spins me onto my back and pins my shoulders down with his hands. He pins my legs down with his good leg, and he's so strong that no matter how hard I struggle I can't budge him at all. He laughs at my efforts.

"I think I won the family bet," Ryker chuckles from a few feet away. His statement startles Peeta, who focuses on his brother, and with the distraction I roll out from under him, and throw all of my weight on him to pin him.

It seems to have worked, until I realize he was pretending to be pinned. He throws an arm around my torso and whips me back down to the ground before I can blink. Dangit. There's got to be a way to pin him.

"Nice try, Kit Kat," he smirks at me, "but you'll have to do better than that."

"Switch," I call out to the group, and Peeta gets off of me and pulls me up.

Ryker seems to be just as much in his element as Peeta is, and he certainly isn't as shy as his brother, because as soon as Peeta has pulled me to my feet Ryker picks me up, and tosses me over his shoulder chatting about what fun we're going to have.

He plops me down about thirty feet away from Peeta and Haymitch, and I notice Peeta glancing over at us occasionally. Whenever he looks this way, Haymitch tries a new move on him, and it actually looks like he might be winning today.

I look back at Ryker. "Your brother can be a real pain," I say.

Ryker analyzes me for a moment, before saying, "Yes, he can." He grins mischievously. "Come here," he says as he casually wraps an arm around my shoulders. "I'll teach you my signature move."

He guides me behind our climbing tree, and trains me out of Peeta's sight specifically on the move that will defeat him. He pushes me to practice it over and over, until he's convinced I could do it with my eyes closed.

Ryker seems pretty pleased with himself, and me, his new protégé. He swings me over his shoulder for a second time, and I begin wondering if he treats every girl like a giant bag of flour. He sets me down by Peeta, who is looking flustered, and says, "Let's have a rematch, you two."

Peeta looks at me for approval, which I give with a quick nod. We move to take our positions, and I can't help feeling a little more confident that I know a weakness of Peeta's, more so than his prosthetic leg and the fact that he alerts everything within a ten-mile radius of his presence with his noisy footwork.

Peeta flips me onto my back, but I twist away from his hands before he can pin my shoulders. I use the signature move on Peeta, and I almost can't believe my eyes when he lands smack down on the ground in a contorted position, and I am able to pin him easily.

"It gets him every time," he snickers. He looks down at Peeta, and smirks. Peeta just looks up at him discontented that Ryker taught me that.

"Were you worried about me, Peeta?" I coo, after I let him go, and he sits down beside me. Haymitch stole Ryker away to teach him that new move, so we are alone for a moment.

"It's not everyday your brother sneaks off with the girl of your dreams," he says casually, which completely throws me and my eyes widen in surprise.

"I'm teasing Katniss, you're just as safe with Ryker as you are with me and Haymitch," he says just as casually.

I stare at him, unsure if he's telling the truth. I furrow my eyebrows at him and try to see past his easygoing expression, but he doesn't say anything else, so I get up to get a long drink of water.

Tonight we start the Games of District 1 Victor, horrendously named Sparkle Sanders, who reminds me a lot of Glimmer with her ridiculous name, blonde hair, and curvaceous figure.

Peeta fast-forwards until all the Tributes have surfaced from the stockyard below the Cornucopia, and we brace ourselves for another bloodbath.

Thwack!

"Hey!" I rub the back of my head and scowl at Haymitch, who's walking to the kitchen.

"Stop biting your nails. It's a dirty habit."

Sparkle joins the Career group instantly after the bloodbath, and watching her is pretty uneventful for the first half of her Games. She is wildly unimpressive, because she basically lets the rest of the Career pack take out Tribute after Tribute. She manages to help them find the Tributes, and trap them, but she never even lays a finger on one, and she never uses a weapon against anyone. _How did she win?_

**Workout Day 20, Wednesday:**

"Oh my gosh..." I exclaim, wide-eyed, holding Madge's father's newspaper, The Capitol Tribune, taut between my hands.

"What?" Peeta asks looking down at the paper. "What is it, Katniss?" He obviously hasn't read our new relationship label. And to think, I thought "star-crossed lovers of District 12" was bad...

"Look!" I say, pointing to the column.

The story reads:

Much speculation has been devoted in the last few weeks as to what will happen with the reapings in the Districts in general, but this week begins our first in depth look at the individual District reapings. We begin with District 12, which is perhaps the most fitting to begin with, since two out of the three living Victors, Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss Everdeen, and Peeta Mellark, won the 74th Hunger Games just last year. Obviously Katniss Everdeen will be going back into the Arena, since she is the lone female Victor.

So that leaves us with contemplating who will be the male Tribute? Bets for the star- crossed lovers of District 12 teaming up have gone up 73% percent in the last two weeks, according to Domani Montagu, President of the Gaming Commission. "Capitol citizens believe that Peeta Mellark's devotion to Katniss will influence his decision to volunteer if Haymitch's name gets reaped," said Montagu. "They don't believe he would ever let her go in the arena without him, and they're willing to put their money on that."

Here's what people have to say: Who do you think will be the Tributes from District 12 for the Quarter Quell?

"Peeta will definitely volunteer if Haymitch is reaped," said Nico. "And if Peeta is reaped...I guess we'll just have to see what happens then. Haymitch seems pretty out of it these days, so maybe he'll let Peeta be the tribute. Peeta's got a better chance to win than Haymitch does."

"I think it will be Peeniss!" said Rufina. "Peenis for the win!"

"I bet that if Peeta gets reaped Haymitch would volunteer for him," said Ugo. "But I bet that would make Peeta pretty angry. I think he will want to go in, you know to save Katniss."

Peeta takes his time, reading it closely, and laughs suddenly. "Peeniss, huh? Boy, these Capitol people are something, aren't they?"

I blush, throw the paper into his hands, and walk away quickly.

_What kind of world do we live in, that people would make our names into one? And why on Earth would they call us Peeniss?_

After lunch, Peeta has us work on the wrestling moves that he and Ryker taught us yesterday.

At one point, I lie down feigning an injury, and Peeta walks over to me checking me for wounds. I pull out the move his brother showed me from my new arsenal of wrestling moves, and Peeta goes down easier than yesterday. Bam!

"That's a good move," Peeta says, breathing a little harder. "Both of them," he says a little begrudgingly.

"Yeah, now all she needs is an arena of guys in love with her, with no weapons to attack her with," Haymitch scoffs.

Peeta's face hardens, and he doesn't say anything for a few seconds. "No, I think she could trick anyone into thinking she's hurt," Peeta replies. "And then if she uses that move, she could easily bring them down, if she has a knife."

"Except that moaning over injuries doesn't get sponsors, and those can be just as important as a good fighting technique," I say, raising my eyebrows.

Tonight we finish Sparkle's Games, and if I wondered last night how she won, I don't have any doubt in my mind after a few minutes of watching tonight's portion.

When we stopped the tape last night, there were still ten Tributes left, but we clearly stopped it right before the majority of the action happened. The Career pack only has five members since one of the Careers died from a muttation attack, but after a minute the Careers encounter a group of three Tributes who formed their own alliance.

It's as if this Game was designed to have two bloodbaths, because when the Careers find them their eyes light up like the Capitol city's lights, and I'm surprised to find that the three non-Career Tributes eyes are hardened like stone instead of being terrified.

The lead Career makes a split decision, and says, "The alliance is over! Every Tribute for himself," and with that the Careers run towards the non-Careers like this is an epic battle.

The strange thing is, it sort of _is_ an epic battle. I've never seen Careers split the alliance before a fight, and I've certainly never seen a group of three non-Careers ally up and fiercely fight the Careers like equals. I shudder at the thought that this is precisely what the Capitol is looking forward to with the Quell.

Sparkle seems to come alive after the lead Career broke the alliance, and I quickly understand her angle. Be strong and of use with the Careers, but show no ferocity until the alliance is broken, so that they won't know what hit them until after the canon sounds.

The battle lasts for a surprisingly long time. Each Career has met their match in these other Tributes, who are battling with all their hate and instinct to survive.

I briefly let my mind think, _this is how Gale would have fought in the Games._

Sparkle is much stronger than she let on, and she easily takes out a girl from 8 with a sword, before flinging a knife into the back of the head of the girl from 2. The other Careers haven't noticed how skilled and ruthless she is until it is too late, but she's smart too, because she waits until each of the Careers has struck down the other non-Career Tributes. Then she takes them out like she's been doing this her whole life.

"Wow, she's something," I say in awe. She hid her skills so well, and used her brains instead of her body, when I'm sure she would have had sponsors lined up around the block if she played that angle instead. I actually feel stunned, and I wish I didn't, because her fighting skills brought death to so many kids in just a few seconds.

The guys don't say anything, and I look at Peeta, who's staring at me. "Don't you think?" I ask him, confused. Why isn't he writing down any notes? She's one of the most dangerously, lethal Victors we've seen so far.

"No," he says, after a long pause, still looking me in the eye.

"But she took all of them down without them even realizing how deadly she was." I shoot him an incredulous look.

"You, are much more impressive," he says.

I straighten up, and have no clue what to say back, so instead I look at his notes to see what he's written down about her.

His notes read: Sparkle: Used careful deception to hide her skills. Skills=strength, sword, knife throwing. Feigned kindness and cooperation during an alliance. Untrustworthy. Not a good ally.

**Workout Day 21, Thursday:**

"Katniss wake up!" Peeta shakes my shoulder. "Get up."

I grunt at him. "I'm tired"

"Katniss Wynonna Everdeen" he throws a pillow at me.

"Middle naming me to get me to spill my middle name? Well it's not going to work."

He throws another pillow at my head.

"Why don't you just let up for a day?" I grumble. "You said Thursday was up to _me_. Well this is how I'd like to spend it. You could probably use some sleep too." I toss a pillow backwards, at where I think he's standing.

The pillows cease being thrown, and he goes quiet.

I turn to look at him. He _could_ use some sleep. The bags under his eyes seem to be getting bigger, and almost painful looking.

Yep, he needs a nap. It's decided.

I throw back the covers closest to where he is, so he knows he can climb in with me if he wants. What's the use in pretense? Everyone in Panem has seen us sleeping cozily in a sleeping bag before, including my mom and Prim. And that's all we'd be doing anyways.

He gasps and raises his eyebrows in shock for a second. His cheeks flush, and he averts his eyes.

_What is it?_ I look down and realize that I threw the covers farther than I meant, and he's now staring at me in my tank top and underwear.

I inhale quickly, in my own shock, and throw the covers around me so I'm completely covered.

"Sorry, it's been too hot for pajama bottoms lately," I say with a definite face flush. "Will you hand me those, please?" I point to the pants lying on the chair near my bed.

"Of course," he says, and hands me my pants, decidedly not meeting my eyes. He turns away from me so I'll have privacy.

_Really? You're just going to stay in here?_ We're not married...even if we are technically engaged.

Well I suppose I can wiggle them on underneath the covers. If he's staying in my room, he's either planning on taking a nap with me, or planning to forcefully drag me out of bed to workout. Or maybe he just wants to insure that I don't lock him out of my room, and stay in here all day.

After I get my pants on, I look up at him. He's still facing away.

"You can look, Peeta."

He turns back to me, and seems a little unsure of what to do.

"Come on," I say. "You're not going to be at top form if you don't get enough sleep. Your new muscles need rest too." I say with a teasing grin.

"What? These old things?" He pulls up his arms and flexes them for me, giving me a brief, playful smirk.

"We workout everyday," I continue.

He's still standing there, slowly tapping his foot, hesitating.

"Peeta, when is the last time you got enough sleep?"

"I always get enough sleep."

I look at him disbelieving. "Sure you do. Don't pretend that _all_ that bread you bring us is from your family's bakery."

"What's wrong with baking for you guys?

"Nothing, it's just that I know you spend most of your nights baking instead of sleeping."

He looks surprised, wondering how I know that. His eyebrows are knitted together tightly for a few seconds.

It's really not hard to deduce that he bakes at night. We spend practically every waking minute together. When else would he bake all that bread?

Besides, I can see into his kitchen...

"You've been observing me?" he asks. His face is a strange mixture of emotions, surprised, happy, and upset all in one.

_Uh, how do I explain that one?_

"No...It's just, sometimes I get up for a glass of water, and I notice that your light is on in the kitchen," I say. With the way I just fumbled through that sentence, I bet he realizes I'm not telling the whole truth.

He sighs. "You're such a bad liar, Katniss."

Yep, he knows.

"I am not!"

"Whatever," he says.

"Why don't you sleep more?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm starting to be like Haymitch."

"Well I won't let you become like him," I mock his previous words to me.

He lets out an amused breath, and stares at the ground.

"Peeta, it's not going to kill us to take a day off to sleep and rest." His head jerks up suddenly, and his eyes shine with a different intensity. "At least take a nap," I conclude.

He kicks off his shoes, and sits down in one of the padded chairs in my bedroom. He leans back and closes his eyes.

"Can you sleep in that chair?" I ask.

"Can't sleep with you," he says without opening his eyes. "We don't need anymore Gale drama."

I furrow my eyebrows at him, even though he doesn't see through his closed eyelids. But he's right. What am I thinking? Gale would have a fit if Peeta were sleeping in my bed.

I feel horrible that I didn't think of how that would look to him, and in this moment I determine that I will consider how Gale would feel about my actions before impulsively doing them. That way, maybe we will all be spared some grief.

I lie in bed still, listening to Peeta's breathing and hoping he will be able to fall asleep. I feel relief when his breathing lightens, and I can comfortably say that he is finally asleep. Shortly after that, my eyelids feel heavy and my sleep deprivation coaxes me into sleep.

Haymitch's POV

"Peeta?" I ask, after swinging his front door open. I wonder if he wandered off to Katniss' already...Probably. He's such a lovesick puppy, even though she thinks he transformed into being a pain in the ass trainer.

"Peeta!" I silently wait for a few more moments to hear any noise from him, but it's completely quiet in here.

So, he's already there. I close his door, and head over to Katniss' house.

"Good morning, Mrs. Everdeen," I greet Katniss' mom.

"Good morning, Haymitch, and you know that you can call me Lily," she says with a smile.

"Lily," I nod politely. I look around, but don't see any signs of the two rascals.

"They're upstairs," Lily says, realizing that I'm looking for Katniss and Peeta.

I go upstairs and try to avoid the creaks in the staircase. When I open the door, I'm not sure what I expect to find, but definitely not this.

Peeta is slumped in the chair, practically sliding off it and falling to the ground, and Katniss is twisted in her sheets on her bed.

_Finally a break. Thanks sweethearts_. Maybe I should get them to take more naps so we don't have to workout as much. I close the door quietly, and walk back downstairs.

And if I can get back to controlling these fools, maybe there's a way I can convince Peeta to lift his threat off of Ripper. I'd give anything for a bottle of white liquor. Or ten. Heck, I could drown myself in the stuff, and I'd die happy.

When I make it back downstairs Lily looks at me perplexed, probably wondering why I'm not dragging them with me downstairs.

"They're working on the plant book," I tell her. I feel a little bad about lying to her, but this will allow the kids to sleep, and it will give me a chance to catch up on my phone calls.

Plutarch has called several times this week and I haven't been home to answer the phone with all of Peeta's dumb workouts, so he's my first call.

"Plutarch, are you calling about planning the details of the reaping?" I ask, because I can't say, _"Hey Plutarch, how's the rebellion coming along in the Capitol?"_

"Oh no, I didn't call about that. That will be a another phone call. I called because I needed to hear from a friend what the status is on the District. Word on the wind is that Snow is ordering more Peacekeepers to all the Districts."

"We haven't gotten a new shipment since the day after the Quell announcement," I say, rubbing the back of my head.

"That's probably for the better. Hiring more Peacekeepers is very costly business. Well, there's no time to lose on planning the final details of this arena, so I better go. Wonderful of you to call! May the odds be ever in your favor, Haymitch," he says jovially.

I know that he doesn't really mean what he said, because he does it to keep up appearances, so I let it slide, but it still splits my ears when I hear that phrase.

Next I call Chaff.

"Heya Chaff."

"Haymitch, man you sound a little off. Are you sober?"

"Yeah, these kids are driving me insane. Worst part is the liquor is gone. Damn boy drained it all."

"Ohhhh, poor Haymitch," he laughs. "Aren't you twice his age?"

"Yeah, shut up. He threatened me with the stocks."

"Mmm, pulling the Peacekeeper card huh? Smart kid."

"Stupid kid. He's just inviting retaliation."

"Puh!" he sputters. "When's the last time you ever hit something on purpose?"

"Well, him actually." I laugh, remembering slugging him the second day after the reaping. Peeta must work some sort of magic or something. He drained my entire stash this time, not just a glass, and what do I do? Nothing?

"Send me some liquor, would ya buddy?"

He laughs heartily. "You know...that's a tempting offer. If I could see you get locked in the stocks, I would send you a whole crate today. But unfortunately I can't."

"Send me some," I order.

"Nah, your way more fun to talk to like this," he laughs.

I slam the phone down.

The phone rings right away, and I answer it, "What!" thinking it's Chaff, who just wants to laugh at me some more.

"No wonder you don't have a lady friend," a voice as smooth as silk says to me.

Finnick Odair.

"It's a wonder you've got so many," I say.

Our words are just worthless apologies to each other. He's sorry the Capitol killed my girl, and I'm sorry he can't have only one. Thus we enter into code talk now.

"Aw Haymitch, where've you been all my life?" Finnick jokes.

Code for: _Why haven't you called sooner?_

"Stuck living next to bread boy and fire girl. Bread boy has been giving us baking lessons everyday."

Code for: _I dislike having neighbors. Peeta has us all on a strict schedule, and I haven't been able to call._

"Got any fallen trees in your Victor's Village? My lady friends tell me there are storms all over Panem. They call me everyday worried sick that I got hit by a tree."

Code for: _Have you spoken with Johanna about the plan? My lady friends tell me there are storms all over Panem. They call me every five minutes worried sick that a tree hit me._

"No. Now, stop pining over your old conquests and focus on the next one will ya? You're worse than Katniss and Peeta."

Code for: _No, I haven't called her yet. The details are worked out for the rescue, for now just enjoy being with Annie. No couple is more insufferable than Katniss and Peeta._

"I bet they're ready to ditch your sorry ass, as much as you're ready to ditch theirs."

Code for: _Do they know about the plan to go to 13?_

Peeta walks in before I get a chance to answer, and looks surprised to see me on the phone.

"Alright dearie, looks like I'll have to call you back another day," I say to Finnick.

"Don't take too long. You know I love hearing your voice."

I roll my eyes, and hang up the phone.

"Where's sweetheart?" I ask Peeta.

"She's still asleep."

"Is she now?" I raise my eyebrows. I've got a plan then. I grab a large bowl, and make my way over to the Everdeen's.

"No don't! She needs to sleep!" Peeta shouts at me, trying to hold me back with all his brawn.

I ignore him, and push him off of me. If he didn't love her so much, he wouldn't be trying so desperately to get her home safe from the arena, and I would still have all my liquor. So I don't feel bad about shoving him. And I don't feel bad about what I'm going to do to Katniss either.

I swing into the upstairs bathroom and fill up the bowl with cold water. Peeta is struggling with me, and he keeps knocking the bottom of my bowl so that it empties of all the water. He's so irritating.

I turn to him and give him a look that says, _try that one more time, and I'm sending a nut shot your way. _He backs down, and huffs at me.

I splash the water all over Katniss who wakes up looking angrier than I've ever seen her. I laugh victoriously. "Now we're even, sweetheart."

Katniss' POV

After I dry off from Haymitch's revenge, we go over to Peeta's for our "Capitol gizmo day," but instead of pulling out the television toy that Effie sent us, Peeta inserts a tape into the machine.

"Effie sent us a workout tape," he says warily. "Her note said it's all the rage in the Capitol."

"Oh great," Haymitch complains.

"They have workout tapes?" I ask.

Peeta shrugs his shoulders, and suddenly a blast of noise comes from the television. The commentator says, "Build your way to having buns of steel! It only takes one hour a week! Are you ready? Let's begin!"

All our eyes widen.

We see a bunch of Capitol people fill the screen in a formation similar to our yoga formation, and they command us to mimic their moves exactly. I didn't know what to expect, but by the end of the hour I actually do feel a little tired, and my legs definitely got a workout.

When the tape ends, the commentator says, "Great job! Now you only have five more weeks until you'll have buns of steel!"

Haymitch says, "Five more weeks of this?" He looks at Peeta like he betrayed him.

"Well, I don't know, maybe we already have buns of steel," I say. I decide to get him back for his little water trick this morning, and pinch his butt quickly before I move out of his arm's reach. He's sure to smack me soon.

"Yow! Katniss Everdeen!" Haymitch grits out.

I smirk and chuckle a little. He moves to tackle me, but I dart behind Peeta's couch. We go around it in circles for a while, but I trip on the corner of the couch and lose my balance for a second. Haymitch lunges for me leg, and pulls me down to the ground.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" I yelp.

"Mess with me, and I will mess with you, sweetheart," he says.

"Ow! Ow! Okay! Okay!" I yell.

We both get up and dust ourselves off bitterly. Peeta is looking at us like we're psychopaths and says, "Lunchtime."

We make our way to the kitchen, and I give Haymitch a final shove before I dart in front of Peeta, who blocks Haymitch for me.

**Workout Day 22, Friday:**

We workout our arms and backs today, because Peeta insists we begin varying our workout routine to different muscle groups. He wants to focus on leg exercises tomorrow, because he says we will get stronger if we target certain muscles one day and let them rest the next day. Well I suppose it's worth a shot, but it all seems so calculated to me.

"How do you come up with these ideas?" I ask Peeta.

"Katniss, I did sports, unlike you or Haymitch."

"I did sports, boy," Haymitch says indignantly. "I bet I could have whooped you pretty good too, back in the day."

"What did you do?" I'm curious what he used to play. I hardly know anything about Haymitch's life. To be honest, I generally couldn't care less, but this I want to know.

"Yeah, what did you do? Football? Basketball? Track?"

"Shut up with the questions, would you?" he asks exasperated.

"Come on, Haymitch," I drawl. "Just tell us, or we'll nickname you for the rest of the day."

He doesn't even acknowledge us. "Maybe little Mitch again?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

He glares at me, and I grin to piss him off more.

"I played football, for a year, before the Quell," he says.

Oh, the Quell. I have no clue what happened in his Quell. How strange that he could be going into another one. From the way my mom reacted during the Third Quarter Quell announcement, I know it must've been pretty bad. His nightmares must be worse than his hallucinations.

Curiosity brings me to the point of asking my mom about it sometimes, but I think the better of it and hold my tongue. My mom used to say, "To everything there is a season. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak."

"And before that, well, you know what it's like," he looks at Peeta, "with a brother in the house."

"You had a brother?" I ask. Stupid question. He already said he did. "Did you have any sisters?"

"No," he says with finality in his tone. It looks like that's all we're getting out of him today.

Peeta brought a box with him today, and I have been trying to peak inside of it all day, but every time I try, Peeta swats my hands away and pushes me away from the box.

It's gentler than how I shoo away Buttercup, but Peeta makes me feel exactly like Buttercup. Every time there is a box in the house, that ugly cat comes over to peer inside of it, and then gets inside of it, no matter what he will be squashing.

"Peeta, what's in the box?" I am completely irritated with him at this point. I have to know what is in the box. It's driving me nuts.

"You'll see after lunch. It's part of our combat training today. It just arrived today."

I furrow my eyebrows and take a big bite of my sandwich. Well, I'll just have to finish lunch faster then...

I finish my lunch first, and pop off the ground like a deer, trotting over to the box. Haymitch and Peeta are still eating their lunch.

I throw myself down in front of the box; look back at Peeta with questioning eyes, prepared to threaten him if he doesn't relent. But he gives me a nod, and I quickly open the box.

"Ah!" I jump away from it. "Why?" I turn around to face him. "Why did you get that?" I shriek.

He was mid-bite on his sandwich, but froze completely when I whipped around and hollered at him. His eyes looks surprised, worried, and confused.

Peeta chews the food in his mouth and swallows, while Haymitch stalks over to the box. I must have piqued his curiosity. He peers into the box and furrows his eyebrows. He glances over at me with a look that says 'stop screaming like a sissy," which sets me off even more.

"Peeta!"

Peeta slowly gets up to his feet, and walks over calmly. "We've never tried one out before, well maybe Haymitch has, but we haven't," he points to himself and me.

Haymitch pulls out a mace from the box and I eye it warily. He swings it in a circle, grins, and then swings it towards me as hard as he can.

My face flashes with horror. _I'm going to die. Haymitch is going to kill me. Just like my nightmare weeks ago. I want to run, but I'm so shocked that I can't move._

Squish! I jump and practically pee my pants. I'm not dying. I'm not even bleeding. In fact, I'm not hurt at all, with the exception of my pride.

I furrow my eyebrows at the mace, wondering what it's made of, and tentatively graze my fingers across it. It feels spongy, but sturdy, and I know that it can't be made out of any type of metal. I feel the spokes and they are made of the same, strange material.

It's a harmless, fake mace, despite how real it looks. _This must have come from the Capitol. I bet this is a hot toy for all the Capitol kids, especially after a Tribute uses one in the arena._

I snatch my own mace, since there are three in the box, and swing it in the air to get a feel for it, before I smash it down on Peeta over and over. He deserves it for unsettling me with this weapon.

After I'm done attacking Peeta who was fake mace-less, I turn my frustration on Haymitch for terrifying me. However, he still has his mace, so he swings it back at me, eventually countering my swings. It's as if he sees my moves coming before I even decide on them.

With a quick swoosh he locks his free hand around my mace, plucks it from my grasp, and hits me with both of them until I'm sprawled out on the ground shouting at him to stop and laughing uncontrollably.

I laugh partly because this is actually a really fun day of combat training, and partly because it's so incredibly ridiculous that I believed Haymitch was trying to kill me.

Tonight, we continue the Games we started yesterday. The Victor is a boy from District 1, whose name is Cadman Hill. He is a strong Tribute, not overly muscular, but very tall. He towers over the rest of the Career pack.

We get down to the final eight before we shut it off for the night. He still hasn't done a whole lot during the Games, so we have sort of zoned out until we get to see his fighting style. We figure that will happen at the end.

**Workout Day 23, Saturday:**

Today we climb trees for combat training, but we're throwing in a twist. Peeta wants us to practice being able to throw a knife from a tree, so that even if we're treed we have a way out if there's only one Tribute after us.

Haymitch decides to forgo the tree climbing today in favor of laying down in the sun, close to the tree so that he can still berate us with an insult here and there.

Peeta and I climb the tree together and perch ourselves on strong branches that are on opposite sides of the tree, but at roughly equal heights.

Haymitch sets up the canvases we've been using in target practice at the bottom of the tree, and settles back onto the grass while we practice our aim. He's sunning himself about ten feet away from the target, which is unbearably tempting...

I deftly throw one close to him, and it lands blade down in between his legs. He opens his eyes in surprise and with wide, furious eyes picks up the blade and stalks over to the tree. He pulls back to aim, and Peeta barks out at him. He stops, gives Peeta a pissed off look, and chucks the knife into the tree close to my dangling foot.

_Well I guess his hands have stopped shaking because his aim was much more accurate today._

Peeta's muttering under his breath, but I just curl my legs around the branch, and let myself fall backwards to grab the knife. While upside down, I see Haymitch stalking away angrily. He plops himself down on the grass, a good fifty feet away from me, and turns his back to us.

Haymitch grumbled all through dinner, and made a point to sit as far away from me as he could when we got to Peeta's. Peeta shakes his head at both of us, and throws in the tape. "You should focus more on training and less on pissing off Haymitch, Katniss," he says as he walks back to his spot on the couch. But when he sits down, he gives me a big grin.

Peeta snatches my foot again tonight after I unconsciously slid it towards the middle of the couch. The movement surprises me, and I let out the tiniest breath of a laugh. I gasp involuntarily, and quickly stitch up my lips.

He looks at me, pleasantly surprised, and trickles a finger from my heel to my toes, while watching for any hint of laughter. I sit stone-faced, clenching my teeth so I don't laugh.

After a dissatisfied look, he sighs, shifts his eyes back to the television, and starts mindlessly massaging my ankle. It feels just as good as it did the last time, and I wonder if I could get him to do this every night. Well, every night except Sunday night.

No, I shouldn't do that to him. "Peeta, you don't have to do that," I tell him to ease my guilt.

"Does your ankle hurt?"

"No."

"Katniss..."

"It doesn't hurt," I say quickly. "But it does get a little sore."

He shifts his eyes back to the television screen, and continues massaging my ankle.

I notice Peeta staring at something close to me from the corner of my eye, so I turn my head to see what he has narrowed in on, but I'm confused when I find that he is staring at my leg.

"Well you are a prickly, little monster, aren't you?" he teases.

I scrunch my eyebrows at him, and give him a quick glare. "Don't worry, I'll be plucked like a bird soon enough."

He purses his lips, and tries to stifle a laugh, but he can't hold it back.

"I'm glad you think my pain is funny," I spit out.

He gives me an apologetic look, but his expression razzes me more than serves as an apology. "They make guys go bald in places too, you know," he counters with a smirk.

"Yeah, and it takes forever to grow in again," Haymitch grumbles.

"Ah, poor Haymitch," I whine. He gives me an annoyed look, and we settle back into watching the Games.

The Career pack whittles down the competition until there are just five Tributes left in the arena, and only three of them are Careers. Cadman decides to split the Career pack up, and they all give each other a quick look before heading in the opposite direction of each other.

Ugh, and I thought Cadman's Games couldn't be even more drawn out. I just want to get this over with.

The Gamemakers seems to be irritated with this turn of events, because the Careers only make it about two hundred yards away from each other before strange bird muttations take flight in the air and swarm each of the Careers. The birds are pushing the Careers back together, and peck at them viciously if they try to run away from the other Careers.

Eventually the other Tributes are also drawn into the same area by the muttations, and they figure out after a while that the birds aren't after them, they are merely there to push them together into a big fight.

Sparkle's Games must have been a big hit with the Capitol audience because this is eerily similar to what happened in her Games at the end.

This fight doesn't last as long as her Games though, and Cadman is able to take down both of the non-Career Tributes before the last two Careers, start heading his way. They are both girls, and seem to have made some silent pact to take him out together, before fighting each other. Smart move.

Too bad it doesn't work. Cadman is quick with his blade and makes deep slashes in both of the girl's bodies. They instinctively hold their wounds, and Cadman uses those few seconds to send knives their way with wicked aim. The knives stick in their abdomens, and they both seem to know that they aren't going to last much longer.

Cadman swiftly makes the final cut on each of them, and the air is filled with two canon sounds. Boom! Boom!

**AN: Well, we've got a Johanna, but are you all dying to hear the casting for Finnick as much as I am? I can hardly take it anymore...In his honor, I included him in this chap. Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	5. Squirrel

**Chapter 5 – Squirrel**

**AN: Thank you to all my last reviewers: Pinklove21, moonlight goose, Jerry Side, Ellenka (what a review! Thanks :) -and to my anonymous reviewers: Gina and Guest (x2)-allyour guys' words are truly appreciated! Alright, you guys settled it...long chapters it is!**

**So, I have a confession. I forgot Katniss' birthday. Ah! I know, I'm horrible! So, just imagine that her birthday was two weeks ago, but they're celebrating this chapter haha. Just so you're aware of my timeline. Chapter 5 is the fourth week of May. The reaping is in the fourth week of July, so I'm planning to write a total of 14 chapters.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Workout Day 24, Sunday:**

The morning is sunny and warm, but a refreshing cool breeze is stifling the heat that will ultimately break through later today. But I don't mind the heat so much, since today is trap day. We won't be doing a workout or combat training, so I won't work up a sweat in the heat.

When we make it to the Meadow I look around for Gale, but there's no sign of him. In fact, I don't even so his snare box. _What?_

We set our lunches and water down by the tree, and loosen up our muscles before we jog. I stretch my legs by pulling my foot up behind me and holding it into my leg. I almost fall over, so I hold on to the tree for balance. I'm about to switch feet, until someone jumps out from the other side of the tree and I get scooped up into their arms. It's Gale. Of course it's Gale. He always sneaks up on me on Sundays. But at this point I don't think I'll ever remember to be prepared for the sneak attacks.

"Happy birthday Catnip!" he says excitedly, and swings me around in a circle.

"Yeah, only one more year until I can't be reaped," I say glumly. I meant it as a joke, but it turned out to be more of a mood killer. This is my last birthday, and I don't feel like there's any reason to celebrate a final birthday, because it just feels like I'm celebrating my funeral.

Gale sets me down, and takes my face in his hands. "That's not funny," he says seriously.

"I didn't know it was your birthday today," Peeta interrupts. "We should celebrate," he smiles.

"Yes, we should," Gale smiles again. "You'll love that won't you," he teases.

He knows I don't like to make a big deal of my birthday. I made everyone in my family promise to only celebrate my birthday with a good dinner. Gale snuck little presents, usually a couple of oranges, into my game bag because I always refused to accept them otherwise. Even this year, with all the money we have, I made my mom and Prim promise not to do or get anything different. I just want a nice dinner, and I'm happy that Gale will be there for it this year.

Gale reviews all the traps we've learned so far, to see how much we remember, and to my surprise both Peeta and Haymitch do about as well I do on them. I'm slightly irritated with them, because it took me much longer to get good at these snares, and here they are mastering it in a few lessons.

I'm tying a twitch up snare, and a hiccup comes bursting out of me all of the sudden. Everyone looks at me, and Gale has a mischievous grin on his face.

We try to go back to tying our snares, but another loud hiccup interrupts the silence.

"Really, Catnip," Gale mocks. "What are we going to do about that?"

I furrow my eyebrows and try to ignore him. I go back to tying my knots.

Hiccup!...Hiccup!

Gale laughs, and walks over to me, muttering, "Always ruining a good moment," with a roguish smile.

He tries everything he can to stop my hiccups to no avail. He brings me water, than a few honeysuckles, makes me hold my breath until my face turns red, and even throws me over his shoulder. He says if I am upside down maybe they'll stop, but they don't. Defeated, he sets me down with a smile and leads me back to the snares.

I continue tying the snares, hiccupping a few more times to the amusement of all the boys. I try to ignore them, but it's hard when they're all laughing at me. Hiccup! "Wah!" I exclaim as I'm lifted into the air by Gale's arms. He sets me down, and says, "Let's see if that works."

After about twenty seconds, I haven't hiccupped again. Gale and I exchange a smile, and I go back to reviewing the previous snares without any more hiccups.

When we finish revieweing, it's about an hour until lunchtime, so Gale uses that time to teach us an Apache foot hold snare, which works well for trapping large prey but also ensnares small animals. I cringe at the thought of capturing a person with it, but then I flashback to some of the Victors we've seen and I realize how much these snares could help us defeat them.

Gale digs a small hole about ten feet away from the "Katniss tree," and starts placing two sets of six stakes into the hole. The first set is visible, and the second set is much further down in the hole. Gale explains that if the ground is wet, or it rains, the hole will fill with water and camouflage the lower stakes.

"Won't we need to camouflage the visible stakes?" Haymitch asks.

"All in good time," Gale says, while concentrating on placing the last stake in the ground. "Catnip, will you throw me-"

I know what he wants next, so I toss him a rope with a small loop with a good knot. "Thanks," he smiles at me. He places the snare directly over the stakes, and stands up to look at his work. "That's how you make the Apache foot hold snare."

"Alright Katniss, show us how it works," Peeta says.

I don't hesitate to slide my foot into the hole, even though Gale is starting to say something. He stops when my foot hits the ground. I feel a tug on my leg, and look down startled to see that the rope has seized my leg. My eyes follow the length of the rope to find my captor. It's Peeta.

"That's two Hawthorne," Peeta says.

"Two?" Gale asks shocked. "When was the first?"

"You weren't here, but Haymitch can verify it if you want," he says smugly.

My eyes are switching back and forth between them. Okay, they're talking about the bet again. I know it involves me, and I think it must have something to do with the traps we're learning...but this is the first time Peeta has claimed a point during trap day...

"Ohhhh no," Haymitch says. "Count me out. I'm not involved this" he motions to all of us.

"You said that you can only count ones from Sunday," Gale challenges Peeta.

"No, I said that you couldn't count any times before the beginning period of the bet," Peeta says. "However, anything since then, counts."

Gale rolls his eyes at him. "Fine, Mellark, I don't see that as a fair bet since you have seven days a week with her and I only have one, but when I win, remember that I beat you when the odds were stacked up against me."

Peeta nods his head. "Alright, Alpo."

"What?" Gale asks perplexed.

Peeta sighs. "It's a gambling term that means 'underdog'," he says.

"Says the gambleholic," Gale mutters.

"Hold up," I say because I think I've finally got this figured out. "This bet is about trapping me?" I glance at both of them, and they look uneasy, but they don't answer me. "Gale," I warn, because I know Gale would never lie to me.

"Yes, Catnip," he says.

But I don't get to respond, because just then Madge shows up with her lunch and her father's newspaper concealed in bag. "How are you doing guys?" she asks jovially. "Don't you love the weather?"

All through lunch I notice her looking at Gale and me with a small, concealed smile on her face. She must know that Gale and I have resolved our problem because, well, we do look happy. I'm glad I listened to her, because Gale and I are back to normal, and I don't know what I'd do if we weren't.

Madge leaves us her father's newspaper, and heads home so we can keep learning how to make our newest snare.

Once Gale is convinced we know the new snare just as well as the old snares, he shows us how to tie the snares to a tree, starting with the twitch up snare. He gets part way up the tree; placing his feet are on the lowest branches, and tying the snare to stronger branches higher up. All of the sudden, we hear a snap, and then the branch he's standing on cracks completely and he tumbles down. He landed on his feet at first, but his body couldn't overcome the momentum. He falls over and his body starts rolling down the slight hill.

I'm not worried about him being hurt, because he only fell about four feet, but it certainly startled me. When his body finally stops rolling away from the tree and he pops his head up, he reminds me of a mole, and I instinctively go into hunting mode. I toss my looped rope over his head, and triumphantly say, "Katniss-1."

Gale's face registers shock, and than pleasant surprise. He looks happier than I've seen him in a long time. In fact, the look on his face transports me all the way back to the day when we met in the house by the lake, and I asked him to run away with me. I half expect him to pick me up and spin me around in a circle again.

But he doesn't. He just stares contentedly at my face, as if my tossing a noose around his head made him so overrun with joy that he is struck speechless. Or maybe he just doesn't want to say what he's thinking with Peeta around.

"What do I win?" I ask amusedly.

"You'll see later," he whispers in my ear so only I can hear.

I feel my face flush and my heart skips a beat. I avoid eye contact with him, and with everyone, until my complexion is back to normal and my heart stops frantically beating.

I go back to tying knots on my own twitch up snare, and I notice Gale smirking at me. I start fumbling at the knots, and get frustrated with it and throw it down to the ground in frustration. I hear Gale chuckle from a few feet away.

We all take turns tying up our twitch up snares in the tree until we've learned everything Gale knows about the best place to tie it. Peeta and I try to coax Haymitch into the snare, but he sees it coming every time and meanders around it.

When we finish with the twitch up snares, Gale says he is going to show us how to tie the new snare, the Apache foot hold snare, to the tree and conceal it properly.

"Catnip, can you come here and hold this part of the rope so I can tie this tight?" he says his eyebrows scrunched in concentration. I walk over, and place my hand over the part of the rope he's pointing to. I hear a rustle up the tree and look up, but I shake my head because it's just a small, fluffy squirrel. But suddenly I feel pressure around my wrist, and look down to see that Gale has wrapped a highwayman's hitch knot around my wrist and pulled it tight while I was looking away.

"Gale-3," he says victoriously to Peeta. "What's that put us at, Peeta?"

"2-3," Peeta replies casually, not showing any emotion. _Well, he does have a good poker face._

I huff loudly at Gale, and he turns back to me with a half smile. He grabs the end of the rope by my hand, give it a quick tug, and it smoothly unravels from my wrist.

After that, he shows us the step-by-step process of tying the snare to the tree, as well as the most natural looking way to conceal the snare and rope. We all take turns tying our own snares to the tree, and concealing them with long, spiky grass.

"Well, I think that's enough for today," Gale says even though we still have time to learn another snare in my opinion. "Let's go celebrate," he smirks at me.

I let out a sigh, but follow them back to my house. I actually am a little hungry already, and I'm excited for a delicious dinner, but I don't feel like there's any reason to celebrate, especially not this year.

My mom and Prim already have a huge dinner laid out on the table, and a cheese is sitting on my plate, courtesy of Prim and Lady.

"Katniss!" Prim squeals, smiling big at me. "Just in time." I give her a suspicious look, but she just shakes her head innocently. "What Katniss? It's just dinner."

"It better be, little duck," I smile.

But it's not, because after dinner is over, everyone disappears into the kitchen and leaves me all alone at the table, listening suspiciously for any noise.

"Happy birthday to you," they all sing as they walk back in the dining room, well all except Haymitch, but that's no surprise. My mom is carrying a cake, and everyone else is following behind her, like little ducklings. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Katniss. Happy birthday to you!" They're smiling faces are eagerly waiting for me to blow out the seventeen candles spaced around the beautiful cake.

"Make a wish," Prim says sweetly, but I can't think of anything to wish for. Wait, yes I can.

_I wish for Peeta to make it out of the Games alive,_ inhale deeply, and blow out all the candles in one blow. Everyone claps and cheers. They have no idea that they are cheering for me to die.

"What did you wish for?" Prim asks.

"Ah, you know I can't tell you that," I say. "It won't come true."

I stare at the cake, and know that Peeta made this. It's absolutely breathtaking. It looks completely realistic, but everything on it is deliciously edible. It's two tiered, with dark frosting, that looks like a mix of navy blue and black, coating both tiers. Blades of grass surround the bottom tier, and Katniss plant leaves and flowers shoot out of the middle of the cake. Around the rim of the both tiers Peeta painted a sequence of wooden arrows that look exactly like the ones Gale and I used to use in the woods.

"It's beautiful, Peeta," I can't stop admiring how lifelike it all is. "I thought you said you didn't know it was my birthday?" He clearly thought this cake out for a while, and he couldn't possibly have made this anytime today.

He grins shyly. "I say a lot of things Katniss."

I look up to meet his eyes, but he flits them down towards the floor. So, I look at my mom and Prim. "I thought I said 'just dinner'."

"But it's your birthday!" Prim exclaims. "Oh! Which reminds me..." she runs upstairs on a mission.

"Katniss, you've done so much for us," my mom says, her eyes are pained, and it catches me off guard. I search them warily. "You always made our birthdays special. This is the least that we can do."

It feels like she wants to say more, like she's making a peace offering, or maybe she's just trying to make up for all the birthdays she never remembered.

"Here," my mom hands me a tall bag after a few silent moments go by. I look inside, and find a beautiful wooden quiver complete with a dozen bows. The quiver is hand carved and etched with Katniss leaves. I pull it out slowly, examining every detail. I know the craftsmanship all too well, and a normal girl would cry at this point. But I'm not a normal girl. For one thing, normal girls in my District never received hunting supplies as birthday presents, but my dad knew that I loved them, because I loved hunting with him.

I feel Gale's hand on my arm. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" he says softly, trying to coax me into saying something kind to thank her. He knows my mom never remembered my birthday, and he knows how much it hurt me inside, even though I never said anything about it.

I try to talk, to ask her how, but the words get stuck in my throat. I finally manage to croak out a weak, "How?"

"He was made it for your twelfth birthday," she says quietly. "But then" and she bursts into tears, "I forgot about it. I forgot to give it to you," she says, guilt deeply laden in every word. Haymitch hands her a handkerchief, and she calms down after a few moments. "Prim and I found it when we packed up the house, and we decided to give it to you for your birthday this year. I'm sorry, Katniss."

I look back down at my present, tracing the carvings that my father's fingers had whittled. "Thank you, mom." I get up and give her a hug, and she bursts into tears all over again. She holds me tightly, and strokes the top of my head. I clear my throat when I pull away, because I refuse to cry. I'm stronger and tougher than most girls.

Haymitch reaches for the quiver, but I slap his hand away, and give it to Gale instead. Haymitch looks put out.

"This is...amazing," Gale says.

I nod my head. "Too bad our bows are in the woods huh?"

He looks at me for a while, and finally nods his head. He reaches under his chair, and pulls out a woven basket with a bright, green bow on it. "Happy birthday, Catnip. Don't worry, you don't have to share these ones," he laughs.

Inside the basket are plump, round blackberries, full to the brim. _How did he get these?_ I wonder. I pop one in my mouth, and then toss one up into the air. He catches it, and we both laugh. For the next few minutes we stuff half the berries in each other's mouths, and begrudgingly share the last half with everyone else.

After all the blackberries are eaten, Peeta hands me a small present wrapped in green paper. "Happy birthday, Kit Kat," Peeta says. Gale gives him a funny look, but curiously watches on as I rip open the paper. There they are. At last I see one.

"A Kit Kat bar?" I say incredulously. "How did you get this?"

"I had a little help," he says. I open up the wrapper, break off piece, and eat it greedily. It's chocolaty wonderfulness that's smooth and crisp at the same time.

"Yum," I say with my mouth full. I hand everyone else a piece, just as Prim comes bounding down the stairs yelling, "I found it!" excitedly. She runs up to me, and places my Capitol crown on my head. I raise my eyebrows at her questioningly.

"You always called me a princess when it was my birthday and gave me a flower crown," she smiles. "Now, I can crown you with a real crown."

"Thank you, Prim." I give her a big hug.

"Here," Haymitch says gruffly. He hands me a small box, wrapped in crinkled newspaper.

"Haymitch, you got me a present?" I ask.

He just grunts in return. I unwrap the newspaper, and find a box full of hot chocolate mix from the Capitol.

"Thanks, Haymitch." He nods in return. "Thank you everyone."

We all eat another slice of my birthday cake, and with bulging, happy bellies walk over to Peeta's. Since we finished Cadman's Games last night we're moving on to the next Victor, whose name is Drusa Volso, the girl Tribute from District 2. Haymitch tells us that she was eighteen when she won, and she is now seventy-two years old. I'm not surprised she was eighteen because all of the Career Victors have been eighteen, with the exception of Vicenzo who was seventeen when he won.

Peeta fast-forwards the tape of Drusa's Games until we see all of the Tributes are slowly lifted from below ground on their platforms. 59...58...57...The camera focuses in immediately on Drusa, who has dark black hair, pulled back in a ponytail, and a long scar that runs down her cheek. It's not fresh, so I assume it must have happened back in her District. She has a mean, sadistic look on her face that makes Haymitch's scowl look like a smile.

When the camera switches away from Drusa, it pans around the arena and shows the landscape for these Games. It's difficult to think of this place as an Arena, since it mostly consists of large rocks and jagged edged cliffs. This Arena is a dull grey color with an occasional green tree or shrub that peeks out. Everything just looks cold and menacing, and I doubt the Tributes will find any comfort in their surroundings.

3...2...1...Drusa sprints for the Cornucopia and snatches a sledgehammer and a couple knives. Unsurprisingly, she teams up with the Careers at the bloodbath, and altogether they take down ten Tributes before the canons begin sounding. Drusa's District partner also snagged a sledgehammer from the Cornucopia, and it was clear within seconds that both of them are highly skilled with them. They raised them behind their heads and slammed them down on Tribute after Tribute. They only need one hit.

After the canons sound, a stocky, but foolish Tribute from 8 peeks too far above a rock and catches Drusa's attention. He bolts, and she runs after him down a long ravine in between two cliffs.

He keeps looking for a way to climb the tall rock, but there are no footholds and nothing to pull himself up. Along the way, Drusa picks up a good-sized stone and throws it with perfect aim at 8's feet. He stumbles, but doesn't go down. She throws another larger rock and he collapses with a sharp cry. The commentators wonder if she broke his leg, and with the way his face is twisted in pain, I think it's a safe bet that she did.

"Sorry about that 8," she says coolly. "This would've been easier if you hadn't have run from us." Then she lifts her sledgehammer and ends his life. Boom! She walks away without the slightest hint of emotion on her face, but before she rejoins the Career group her face contorts into a scowl.

Peeta fast-forwards until we see the Careers go on the night hunt, but after an hour of them finding no one, we get tired of waiting and start fast-forwarding again. We watch for anything that looks like a fight as the images blur together on the screen, but we don't see anything except the Careers hiking around on the rock beds with flashlights. When we see them make it back to their base camp, Peeta pushes play. They gripe for a long time about how they didn't find anyone all night, and then they finally fall asleep. I feel like sleeping too.

"Ow!" I exclaim and groggily rub my arm. I must have fallen asleep. I hear another thwap! _Who else just got whacked?_ I look up and see Haymitch smirking at me and glaring at Gale.

"Don't do that," Gale scolds Haymitch. "You know she has trouble sleeping."

Haymitch gives him a huff, and says, "Don't we all, kid."

"Well, you should treat her nicer on her birthday at least," Gale grumbles.

"A birthday is just like any other day," Haymitch replies as he walks towards the door.

I get up from the couch groggily, and follow Gale and Haymitch out the door after we bid Peeta goodnight. Gale helps me drag myself upstairs to go to bed, but surprises me by following me into my room again. He surprises me further when he gets under the covers with me.

I tense up slightly, but Gale senses it, even though there's only a hint of moonlight coming through my window. He gives me a quick chuckle, and I relax a little. It's not that I've never wondered what it would be like to be in a bed with Gale; it's just that I didn't know what was going through his head when he slid in beside me.

"Do you want me to get out?" Gale asks.

"No," I say genuinely.

"Why are you nervous?"

"Well, I, I don't know."

"I'm just putting you to sleep, Catnip," he whispers.

"Okay."

He laughs softly, and brushes the hair out of my eyes with a sigh.

"What are you thinking?" he asks in a deep voice. It's strange to hear him ask that question, because he seems to always know what I'm thinking before I even think it.

"This is different."

"Bad different?"

"No. Just, I don't know."

"Neither do I," he laughs.

"It's just, you, here, it's different. I don't know how to explain it."

"Do you mean, it's different than when you were with Peeta?" he says with a touch of sadness in his voice.

"Yes, it's very different."

"Can you use another adjective instead of 'different'? Because I really have no idea how you are feeling right now."

"It's..." I realize I have no idea what to say, so I steer the conversation a different way, "It's getting warm." He lets out a quiet chuckle. "What? I hate nights like this. I can never fall sleep."

"That's not what I was laughing at," he says.

I feel his fingers on my skin, and a tingle gets sent through my entire body. He lightly strokes my bare arms with his fingertips. His nails are trimmed short, so I can hardly feel them glide over my skin, but I feel the rough texture from in his skin, and it feels like this is the way a man's hands should feel. They're rough, and calloused, scarred and tough, but gentle when they need to be—like when he's setting a snare, or memorizing the way my skin feels under his.

"I kind of like warm nights," he says in a low voice.

"I don't," I say. "It gets too hot under all these covers, and I start sweating."

"Yeah, I can tell, you stink," he gives me a playful sniff. "You need a bath," he laughs.

"Ha, ha, you could use one too," I tease, but lose all cognitive thought when I suddenly feel his lips against my skin.

He kisses my arm where he was stroking it. His lips travel up my arm, before he softly kisses my shoulder. He leaves his lips close to my skin and lets them brush over it. I feel his breath caress my skin, and it doesn't matter how many times we've been close enough to feel each other breathe while hunting, this is completely different. It's intimate, and reserved only for someone you love.

"I'll join you if you want," he says. I smack him playfully, and he laughs. He gets out of the bed, but walks to the other side and sits beside me.

"Katniss you really are...different" he teases.

"Wait, what?"

He laughs. "So now you see what I meant?"

"Bad differer..?" I start to ask.

Gale leans closer to my face, and I stop mid question. "No," he whispers so close to me that I can feel his breath on my face. My heart starts beating faster, and I wonder if he can hear it. Is his heart beating this fast?

I sense him inching in closer and closer, but then he waits about an inch away from my lips. My body takes over, leaving my mind behind in the darkness of confusion, and I lean in to meet his lips. They're warm, and he tastes like blackberries and frosting. He kisses me back soft and slow at first, but my body is leaning farther in, and my heart is fluttering in my chest. His kiss deepens as soon as mine does, but not until I deepen it. He's letting me dictate this kiss, but carefully letting me know how much he wants it at the same time. I try to memorize the soft feeling of his lips, exploring them in a way that my eyes never allowed before.

But I feel my mind catching up to me, and I start to question whether or not this is a good idea. When Gale senses my hesitation he pulls away, and I can almost make out his chest rising and falling in a quick pattern in the dim moonlight falling across my bed.

"You're right you do get hot under those sheets," he says with a playful tone. "Alright, I'm going home. You need to get some sleep."

"Okay. Goodnight, Gale," I mumble. My mind is trying to process everything that just happened, which makes it impossible to say intelligible words.

He strokes my cheek with his thumb, and says, "Night, birthday girl."

**Workout Day 25, Monday:**

Peeta walks in bearing gifts today. He's got a large package in his hands, and lying on top is a basket of cheese buns, muffins, and scones. _He couldn't have made all of these this morning, could he? Did he not sleep at all last night?_

He puts the basket down on the kitchen table, and hands me the shiny gold package. The handwriting isn't cursive, so my guess is that this isn't from Effie. Maybe Cinna sent more clothes?

_Oh speaking of Cinna, I really should have called him and told him that I liked the outfit he sent..._

I open it up, and find a bunch of clothes, the note confirms that Cinna sent them to me. He mysteriously found out we are doing yoga, because the note says that that the top outfit is great for it, and the bottom outfit is for "lounging." I eye that outfit, and it does actually look pretty comfortable.

After breakfast I run upstairs and change into the yoga clothes. "Ready Peeta bread?" I ask him when he finally sets his napkin on his plate and leans back in his chair.

He raises his eyebrows, taking in my new outfit, but not saying anything. Then he flashes me an uncertain expression. "Peeta bread huh?" he says. I can tell he's not offended, more like amused. It takes him a second, but eventually he shakes his head, gets up, and leads the way out the door. "Not like I haven't heard that one before," he mutters under his breath with a hint of a laugh.

"I heard that," I say. "How about Peeta pocket then?"

"That was my middle school nickname," he says.

"Oh. Pocket Peeta?"

"Elementary nickname."

I let out a brief sigh of exasperation. "Ok, how many nicknames do you have?"

"Well, there's Peeta bread, Peeta pocket, Pocket Peeta, Flatbread Peeta, Flat Peeta..."

I start laughing as soon as he says, "Flat Peeta," and I am not even trying to hold back my laughter. He's looking at me like he's trying to actually assess my mental stability, as I snort embarrassingly and guffaw for a good minute.

"Flat...Flat P...Flat Peeta?" I finally get out, in between bouts of laughter.

He sighs, "Yes, Katniss."

I stitch my lips, but his annoyed expression sets me off again, and I can hardly walk in a straight line. I must look like a deranged, drunk idiot.

"How did you get that one?" I ask, but I don't wait for his answer. "Oh, I know. Was it when you were wrestling?"

His eyes dart away from me as he mumbles, "Yes."

I sigh contentedly, and smile because there was probably only one person who _could_ flatten Peeta, and that would be Ryker. I can't imagine anyone else having a chance. Well, maybe me too, now that I know Ryker's signature move.

"Alright, so what are the rest of your nicknames?" I ask. _There can't be that many more, right?_

"Mm...Peeta chips, Peeta buns, and..."

"And..."

He looks away sheepishly. "Peeta wrap."

_Peeta wrap?_ How'd he get that one?

I hear Haymitch chuckling on the other side of Peeta.

"Yeah, people don't really understand what a pita actually is," Peeta defends himself, and gives Haymitch a quick look that says, "Drop it."

"Well, I don't know what one is," I say.

Peeta gets a gleam in his eye, just like when he told me about the breads specific to each District, and I know what's coming. _Crap. I walked right into that one._

He goes off on a detailed explanation of what ingredients go into pita bread, the origins as far as he knows, and finally how it is made. I tune out quite a bit of what he says, until my ears pick up on the words "hot," "steam," and "puffs" and instantly get struck with an image of a pufferfish Peeta, full of hot air.

"What?" Peeta asks when he finally notices that I have completely zoned out of the conversation.

"Has anyone ever called you Puffer Peeta?" I ask.

He scrunches his face. "Uh, no." He laughs, "Puffer Peeta. Not bad, Kit Kat." I give him a sly smile.

When we reach the Meadow we find Madge waiting for us. I go over and talk with her, ignoring our warm up jog because I decided today is not a jogging day. Today is yoga, our lazy day.

"Thwack!"

"Ow Peeta!" I gripe at him, and rub my aching rear end.

"Come on Katniss," he says when he's jogged about ten feet away from me. "Stop stalling."

I glare at him, and turn back to Madge, who's stifling a laugh. I scowl at her too.

"Katniss!" he exclaims.

"What?" I snap.

"We have to warm up."

"It's just yoga day."

"If you don't jog, I'll make you do pushups instead of yoga," he warns. His threat holds no weight, but I bolt to his side, just in case. I loathe pushups.

I scowl at him and mutter under my breath as we start jogging, but he lets out a breathy laugh, which makes me grumble even louder. So he turns his face towards me, and waits until he has my attention. He fills his cheeks with as much air as he can hold, and he looks so ridiculous that I can't help but crack a small smile.

"Pop!" I throw both my hands down on his puffed up cheeks, and all the air inside of them gets forced out in a millisecond. We both laugh, and it takes him a long while to stop smiling.

When we have circled back to the tree where Madge is waiting, Peeta says, "See? Jogging isn't so bad, huh?"

"You're so full of hot air," I roll my eyes at him.

Peeta laughs, but I hear Haymitch groan from behind us, "You two are so annoying. Help me out here, darling," he calls to Madge. "They've got to work your last nerve too."

"Oh Haymitch," she sighs. "I don't really have a last nerve."

"I'm not surprised," Haymitch replies. He looks like he wants to roll his eyes, but he doesn't, and instead gives her a small smile. Madge tends to have this calming affect on him. She brings out a more compassionate side of him, and some days I wish she were around all the time.

"Feel free to trade us in for new Victors anytime, Haymitch," I smirk.

"Too bad that can't be arranged" he mocks, and gets into our yoga formation. Peeta and I roll our eyes, and line up alongside him.

Madge takes us through our typical yoga routine, that at this point has almost become second nature to me. She doesn't throw in very many new moves, but we do learn how to twist our arms and legs into a braided position. _This must be what my hair feels like_. Madge calls it Eagle Pose, but in my mind it will always be called Braided Body.

With Peeta's prosthetic leg and Haymitch's basic inability to do anything physical, Madge and I are the only ones who succeed at the move and we grin victoriously at the boys who fall over.

The rest of today's yoga is actually very relaxing, and I find that the boys and myself are yawning from time to time. I even see Madge yawn, but that could be a reaction to us.

Madge leaves us after lunch, and we all lie down on the grass and take in the pleasant sunshine and warm breeze. It probably wouldn't take much for us to fall asleep out here. We're all tired...

"Whack!"

"Ah!" I wake up in a fright, looking for my assailant. _What just hit my back?_ I flip over on my other side, and see Haymitch holding a gold sword in his hand. It's definitely made of metal, but the edges aren't sharp enough to do any damage because my back isn't hurt or bleeding.

"Good afternoon, sweetheart," he sings.

I dart to the box that has my sword, grab it, and barrel after him.

We fight for a few minutes, each faux slashing the other and yelling "kill shot!" afterwards. Peeta's is laughing at us, but grabs his sword and swings it at me. I pull up my sword to defend myself, and when the swords collide little sparks fly off the edges of the blades. We both stop and stare at the swords in shock, and then look at each other with confused faces.

Peeta turns back to the box, and picks up the note from Cinna to re-read it.

Dear Peeta,

Here are the swords you requested. Effie picked them out and engraved your names on them, but Portia and I re-designed yours and Katniss' swords for a more personal effect. I hope they work well.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Cinna

P.S. Let me know if Katniss liked the Kit Kat bar. I'll send more if she does.

Peeta smiles, as he heads back over to me, and slashes his sword at mine again. They hit with a clang, and sparks fly off again. Peeta laughs and does it again, shaking his head with a smile.

"What? Why are they doing that?" I ask, staring at the swords perplexed.

"Because you're the Girl on Fire," he says, and swings his sword towards me again. I block it, and we watch the sparks burst off the part where the swords met, like mini fireworks.

"How come mine doesn't do that?" Haymitch asks, sounding almost childish.

"Effie picked it out," Peeta says, looking over his shoulder at him, and smiling mischievously back at me.

"Trinket," Haymitch gripes, looking at his sword in disappointment.

But Peeta is having none of Haymitch's sulking today, so he heads towards Haymitch and jabs at him. He looks surprised by the sudden attack, and they fight for a long time, Peeta for practice and Haymitch for pride. When Peeta finally wears Haymitch down, he manages to hit Haymitch's sword away, and draws his own sword up to Haymitch's chest. "You lose, old man," Peeta smirks at him.

"You have a fancier sword," Haymitch says. "Trinket's just trying to make me lose."

Peeta laughs, and looks at me, "You ready to duel?" he says, holding out his sword to me.

_What?_ "Am I ready to _drool_?" I ask.

"Duel," Peeta drawls dramatically.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear what you said very well," I say sheepishly. _Sneak attacks are almost too easy on Peeta._

"Oh," he looks ashamed. He starts walking over to me with his sword hanging down by his side. "I thought you said your hearing was back to normal after the surgery?" He looks worried, and he should be. He's almost next to me now.

Whack! "Ow!" Peeta yelps, rubbing his arm. I smile big at him. "Oh, I see how it is," he grins back. He raises his sword and comes at me with it, but I'm faster than Haymitch, and I meet his halfway down. We duke it out for a long time, it feels like hours, though it's probably just minutes. It feels epic with the sparks flying off our swords. I try to work in some footwork like I've seen other Careers do throughout the Games, but it usually just ends up making me trip and gives Peeta a free swipe at me. We're starting to really hack away at each other, but our swords always meet. Then all of the sudden, Haymitch's gold sword comes down hard on both of our swords, and all the points get stuck in the grass.

"Draw," Haymitch says with finality. "I'm hungry."

When we sit down at Peeta's to finish Drusa's Games, I feel tired. Naps always make me feel sleepier afterwards, but I don't mind. Peeta pushes play, and fast forwards until we see a fight happening through the whirring images.

"These Career girls are unreal," I breathe out, watching Drusa lead the Career pack towards a couple of Tributes sitting by a fire. They run, but she's faster, even with the sledgehammer weighing her down. She catches up to them quickly, and takes them both out in mere seconds. "At least they're in their seventies. What are they like now Haymitch?"

"Mean old broads."

I laugh at that. I think I could take them on in their seventies.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and some of the older Careers will be reaped."

Haymitch just gives me a look that says, "Don't even dare to dream that."

Drusa and her District partner, Rufus, are such a lethal combination that when they ran after those Tributes, the other Careers stayed behind to discuss whether they should break off from them or kill them in their sleep. But a few hours later, we overhear Drusa and her District partner discussing the same thing. After all is said and done, the Career pack stays in tack until the final eight.

Peeta wants to see the interview with Drusa friends and family, so we watch it. However, we find out from her interviews that her District partner in the Arena is actually her District partner in real life. They have both worked at the same quarry since they were fourteen. They were friends in school, so they partnered up at work too. The thought of them being stuck in the same Games makes me sad, because I know that eventually he will die, and I suddenly want it to not come down to the two of them.

Drusa and Rufus attack the rest of the Careers at night during the night hunt, and take out all of them in a matter of minutes. The next day mutts drive the remaining two Tributes into the vicinity of Drusa and Rufus. They share a pained look, which must be because they fear it will come down to the two of them, but they set their eyes on the remaining Tributes, who looks scared but willing to fight.

The girl Tribute who Drusa charges at has a set of knives in her hands, and she quickly flings them at her. Most miss in the girl's panic, but a couple knives land in her leg. She stops and pulls them out with a grimace, and charges again and slams her weapon into the girl's head. Boom!

Rufus is fighting a male Tribute with a sword, who only cuts him once in the stomach before getting bludgeoned in the head. Boom!

Drusa looks with terrified eyes to where Rufus is lying on the ground. Neither of them move for minutes, and I think of how the Capitol must have loved seeing it come down to the two of them in the end. Drusa stands her ground, and lets her sledgehammer fall. Rufus lets go of his too, and she starts walking over to him. I have absolutely no idea what she's going to do next, kill him or try to save him. Boom! She stops in her tracks, three feet away from where he lies, and her eyes flood with tears. She races over to him, pounding on his chest, willing him to come back. She examines the wound with confusion, but then her eyes wander over to the sword that killed him. She picked it up and smelled the edge, throwing it down in disgust. It was poisoned.

She looks at the sword again, picks it up, and walks back to Rufus. She crosses his arms at the wrists, and places the sword underneath his hands. She turns away from him, and looks up at the sky, waiting for the hovercrafts to appear.

**Workout Day 26, Tuesday:**

When we get to the Meadow today Peeta pulls out his workout charts and tells us that we should continue working out specific muscle groups. So, since we worked out our legs Saturday and had snares on Sunday, and yoga yesterday, we're working out our arms and backs today. Ugh...that means pushups. Lots of pushups.

Peeta sets the chart down, and we segue into our warm-up jog. Haymitch is running extra slow today, and we can hear his heavy pants from twenty feet away.

"Alright, there's something new I want us to start working on," Peeta says when we get back to the tree.

"Yeah?" I question.

"Sprints."

Haymitch clucks and rolls his eyes at Peeta.

"Sprints?" I ask. Well, actually that's not a bad idea. How many times did we run as fast as we could? But is there really anything we can do to get faster? I always thought you were sort of born with your optimum speed, and to be truly fast was a gift.

"Yes, sprints," Peeta says. "One of us will probably need to sprint towards the Cornucopia this year, and both Tributes will certainly need to run fast in the arena."

I see he's still keeping up with the "I don't know who the two Tributes will be" act.

"No one should sprint to the Cornucopia," Haymitch warns. "What have I always said?" he asks, clearly frustrated with us.

"It's a bloodbath," Peeta and I say in unison, like school kids reciting the Panem anthem.

"Yep, and you can bet that it will be even worse this year," he says. "These are Victors. They're not the typical Tributes, shaking on the platforms with no skills and little hope of succeeding."

"We can talk about the Cornucopia later," Peeta says. "It's still a good idea to try to get as fast as we can."Haymitch is still looking at him with severe eyes."None of us know what will be there when we get there, Haymitch! There are always muttations, and those are always fast! You've seen them, you know." Peeta is motioning angrily with his arms, and Haymitch is just glaring at him in return.

Peeta is completely exasperated with Haymitch, and vice versa. They stare each other down for a few moments without saying anything, just giving off their meanest scowls at each other.

"I agree with Peeta," I announce, trying to maintain the limited peace in our group. "You said it yourself, Haymitch, these Games are going to be different, and we should prepare ourselves for anything."

That seems to settle things, although the boys are still tensed up. So, I decide to look at the things Peeta brought with him today. He painted a couple of canvases with the words "START" and "FINISH" in bold white lettering onto a black background.

"Do you ever make anything that isn't perfect?" I mutter to myself when I take in his perfect lettering and paint job.

"All the time," Peeta says from behind me, and I jump because I didn't know he was there.

"Pff. I don't buy it," I say. "I've never seen anything you baked or painted come out looking anything less than extraordinary." I raise an eyebrow at him.

He laughs. "Alright, the next time I make a mistake on something, I'll show you."

Peeta sets out a long strip of white paper, and takes the "START" canvas, which has a stake attached to the backside, and jams it into the ground by the line. Then he walks toe-to-heel what I can only guess is close to two hundred feet, and sets another long strip of white paper down. He carried the second canvas with him, and he stakes it next to the white line and jogs back.

We all line up on the start line, and Peeta says, "Ready? Set. Go!" We take off like we're running from fireballs. I easily take the lead, Peeta is following behind as fast as he can, but his prosthetic leg is slowing him down, and Haymitch is panting behind us, a long ways behind us.

"I'm not as agile as I used to be," Peeta says when he crosses the finish line after me.

I've heard men lamenting their old athletic skills before, but Peeta isn't old. He's lamenting the loss of speed due to his prosthetic leg.

"I'm sorry," I say, and look at the ground. I still wonder sometimes if there was anything else I could have done to save his leg back in the arena.

"Katniss, it's not your fault," he says. "You saved my life. Without you I would have died. Numerous times."

"Still, I wish you wouldn't have lost your leg," I say miserably.

He sighs at me, and then walks with me back towards the start line. "Don't blame yourself. Please?" he asks. I nod at him.

"Ready?" he asks once we're ready for another sprint. I get set, and nod at him. "Set. Go!" We set off in another sprint. I beat him easily, every time, all fifteen sprints he makes us do. By the end of the fifteenth sprint I keel over with my hands on my knees and breathe heavily.

Haymitch stares at me, unwinded since he only did the first sprint. "And I thought you only looked like a tomato when you were mad."

At this my anger flares up, of course, and I glare at him.

"Wow, I didn't know a human's face could get to that shade of red," he says with an irritating smirk.

"Oh yeah? You think that's funny?" and to that he starts laughing. "Let's see how red your face can get," I say, and start charging at him.

But Peeta swings me into his arms, and throws me over his shoulder. "Honestly, what am I going to do with both of you?"

"You can let her go, Peeta," Haymitch says. "Sweetheart couldn't hurt me if she tried."

"Okay that's it! Put me down, Peeta!" I yell.

Peeta sighs, and starts walking away with me still on his shoulders. I try to squirm out of his grasp and kick wildly because Haymitch is laughing at me, and it's driving me up the wall.

"Peeta!" I yell.

"Katniss!" Peeta mimics.

"Let me go!"

He sighs again, but it's a different sigh than before, and it makes me pause. _He couldn't have taken that as a double meaning, right?_

"I'll behave," I say after I've had a few moments of clarity away from Haymitch's snickering. "I promise."

Peeta stops, and turns his face to where he can see mine. "You promise you're not going to run for him?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise to stop fighting with him?"

I smirk, "Never."

He rolls his eyes at me, but sets me down, eyeing me like he's not sure I won't saunter back towards Haymitch and resume our spat. But I behave, just like I promised.

After we've finished with our sprinting, we segue into working out our arms and backs. Just like I suspected, pushups are on the menu for today. Lots of pushups. _I hate Peeta for making me do pushups._

"Katniss, you haven't even done ten yet," Peeta scolds.

"Yes, I have," I say innocently from my seated position. "I did them when you weren't looking."

He gives me a disbelieving look. "Well maybe I could watch your form for the next ten?" he insists.

I grumble at him, move to a plank position, and start more pushups.

"Pff, you call those pushups?" he laughs.

I give him a scowl, and keep going until I have done my ten pushups. "Ten," I say victoriously. _No more, no more, please._

"Alright, now rest thirty seconds, and do another ten," he says.

My shoulders slump, and I count to thirty. Three times.

"Katniss?" Peeta chides.

"Yes?" I say innocently.

"It's been a minute and a half, and you've just sat there."

"Have not," I defend as if I'm insulted by his accusation.

"Well then do another ten," he says.

I groan, but do them in hopes they are the final ones of the day. But they're not. Of course they're not. He orders me to do a total of ten sets, and by the end of them I slump on the ground in a heap.

All through dinner, I have trouble lifting bowls of food and passing them around to people, so Peeta does it for me. I scowl at him, but at least my muscles can finally rest.

After Drusa's Games, we start the next Victor, Dalit Berkman's Games. He's from District 11, and I think that's the first Victor from that District that we have seen so far. I wonder what he did to win.

The new Arena is almost completely flat, but has lots of greenery, and patches of woods here and there. Before the sixty seconds are up, we get an aerial view and see that there are small fields of different plants everywhere, and I suddenly realize that Dalit probably won because, being from 11, he must have a lot of know how in a place like this.

Dalit springs off his platform and makes a beeline for the nearest patch of greenery. He analyzes the Arena more than the other Tributes does, and mutters notes as he explores. But we soon get bored of watching him explore, so I take this time to ask Haymitch something I've been wondering about.

"Who won the first Games?" I ask, because we are on the 21st Hunger Games. Mags was the 12th Victor, so we didn't actually get to see the first eleven Games, and now I'm a little curious what they were like.

"District 3 actually won the first three Games," Haymitch says. "Then District 2, 7, and 10 battled it out for a while. However, the tributes from 2 decided to start killing Tributes from 7 and 10 first, before they got any other Tributes. That put an end to 7 and 10 becoming Career Districts, and it solidified 2 as the first Career District."

"They just scoured the Arenas looking for the Tributes from 7 and 10, and wouldn't kill anyone else until they found them?"

"Didn't have to."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

Haymitch sighs at me and gives me a look that says he's waiting for me to get it. But I don't. That seems like it could take days and days to find them. And there are other Tributes with weapons, and mutts. And then it finally dawns on me.

"The bloodbath."

Haymitch nods his head like it took me years to figure it out, which brings me to my next question. "That's what began the bloodbath. Up until that point, most Tributes got supplies and made a break for it. They didn't want to fight each other, not after that war."

"Why 10 years?"

"In those early years, 7 and 10 had a total of five Victors, two for District 7 and three for District 10. In those Games, it had always come down to District 2 and the Victor from 7 or 10. So District 2 came to some collective decision that for all 5 times that District 7 or 10 had a Victor, District 2 would go after their Tributes when the bell sounded. They saw it as retribution for the ten Tributes they lost. It's called the ten-year revenge in the Capitol.

"How do you know so much about that?" Peeta asks.

"I never watched those Games, but I heard all I need to know about them to never need to."

**Workout Day 27, Wednesday:**

Today we work out our legs hard, and I'm glad we're not working out our upper bodies, because mine is incredibly sore. I have a feeling that my legs are going to be just as sore as my arms tomorrow. _Good thing Thursday is my day_, I think. After our jog, Peeta pulls out a list of all the exercises we're going to do today, and the list is long. I cringe as he starts naming them all off, and by the fifteenth exercise I ask him if we can just get going on them since apparently we're going to be killing our legs today.

We collapse onto the ground an hour earlier than normal, and just decide to crawl over to our lunches and call it a day on the leg workouts. We've still got combat training later. After we finish our lunch we wait for Madge to show up with the paper, and she does after about twenty minutes. She hands it to Haymitch, and comes over to me to talk about what she has been doing since Monday and how her mom is. After a while I hear Peeta bickering with Haymitch over the newspaper.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Haymitch says. "Go back to your girl talk." I look at Madge to see if she knows what's in the paper, but she shrugs, and a few minutes later she says she needs to go back and take care of her mom, who is having a terrible migraine today.

"So what are we going to do for combat training today?" I ask Peeta. "And don't say anything that involves our leg muscles, please."

He gives me a side smile, and nods towards the tree.

"Alright, Haymitch you first this time since you're keeping secrets from me," I tell him.

He grumbles, but starts climbing the tree. All these workouts have improved his climbing abilities a little, and he's actually able to make it to the halfway point of where I've been making the boys reach so far. I climb up a few feet below him, and guide him on what branches to use and where to put the weight on them. He makes it up another ten feet, and suddenly every muscle in his body freezes.

"Haymitch?" I ask worried. I get no response, and he doesn't move. "What's wrong?"

I climb up higher, and I hear a whirring noise coming from farther up. Bees. He must have found a bee's nest. But the noise is definitely coming from in between him and me, and he is staring straight in front of him at another branch.

I stop climbing because I don't want to get close to the nest, even though I can tell that it's clearly not a hive of Tracker Jackers.

"Haymitch, there's a bee's nest about five feet below you to your left," I say. "Come down slowly, okay?" But he still doesn't move. He hasn't made a single noise since he froze. _He must be deathly afraid of bees._

"Katniss, what kind of bees are they?" Peeta says with extreme worry in his voice.

I look down at him. "They're just hornets."

"Oh, well that's just great," he says. "You're both going to get stung by hornets."

"Better than Tracker Jackers," I say down to him.

"Haymitch?" I call. No response. I climb out on my branch a little further to see what he's looking at, but I can't see anything. So I climb out a little further. I'm now dangling on the branch.

"Katniss!" Peeta calls, clearly anxious by this whole scene.

"Hold on Peeta, Haymitch is staring at someth-" I yell. "Oh" I say suddenly. A furry, little squirrel is scurrying around on the branch that Haymitch is staring at. He must be staring at the squirrel the way his head is sharply following its every move. _But Haymitch isn't afraid of a squirrel is he?_

Then I hear a crackle that makes my blood go cold. My branch is breaking. I look frantically for another branch to grab onto, but then the branch splits and I'm falling in the air. "Ah!" My hands wildly reach for a branch to break my fall. I think I'm just about to hit the ground when my left arm catches on a branch, and I thrust out my hands to grab it. I look down, and I am about eight feet from the ground.

"Katniss are you okay?" Peeta hollers.

"Yep, close call, I thought I was going to re-break my ankle."

I look up and see that Haymitch's body is shaking, and wonder what the heck is wrong with him. Then I see him wildly climbing down the tree. He stomps on the branch holding the beehive hard, too hard.

It falls from the branch, and I yell "Run Peeta!" as quickly as I can before letting go off my branch, landing in a heap, and rolling away from the tree. Peeta runs towards me, yanks me up, and pulls me away from the angry hornets. He lets go of my hand and runs back for Haymitch, who is dazedly trying to avoid the bees, and absently swatting them away. If we didn't know any better, we would think he is absolutely wasted with all the stumbling he is doing. Peeta grabs his arm and pulls him away from the bees as quickly as Haymitch can go.

"How many stings does he have?" I ask Peeta.

"I don't know, but we should get him to your mom quick."

"Oh my!" my mom exclaims when she sees the three of us. "What happened?"

"Hornets, and a tall tree," I explain.

"Come sit down," she tells us, and calls to Prim. "Do we have any lavender?" she asks Prim once she arrives wide-eyed.

"Mmm, yes, but there's not very much left," she says.

"Start preparing what we have for bee stings," my mom instructs. Prim nods and calmly but quickly heads into the kitchen.

"Alright, who's the worst of you?" my mom asks, but she's staring at Haymitch.

"I'm okay Lily, you can help the kids first," he's clearly still shook up if he's calling my mom by her first name.

"How many stings do you have?"

"I don't know, five or six maybe."

She pulls up a chair next to him, deciding that he's the first patient. "Where?"

He points to all of the areas that are swelling with red bumps. She quickly pulls out all the stingers, and pulls ours out next, before concentrating on him again. I have two stings on my arms, and Peeta managed to walk away with only one on his leg.

"Never thought I'd see a day when you climbed a tree again," she says to Haymitch with a sad expression. _What's she talking about?_

My mom gives Peeta a check to make sure he doesn't have any abrasions, while Prim is slathering the herbal remedy on Haymitch. I notice my mom staring at Peeta, really staring at him, and I wonder why. Then I hear her say, "You're so much like your father" and it all makes sense.

Why haven't I ever thought of that before? He does resemble his dad as far as looks go, and in all my trading with Mr. Mellark, I can easily determine that him and Peeta have the same easygoingness.

"Why are you afraid of squirrels?" Prim asks Haymitch. I told them all what happened since Haymitch was too much of a trainwreck to explain it.

"Prim, that's enough," my mom says. Prim looks at her startled because my mom hardly ever warns her to stop talking.

"Because not all of them are as nice as you, princess," he gives a small smile through his grimace.

"I've never met any mean squirrels," Prim jokes. "Except one day, Buttercup saw one outside our old house, and he ran after it. The squirrel went up a tree, and came back down with another squirrel to intimidate Buttercup."

"Is that so?" Haymitch says, raising a brow in suspicion.

"Yeah!" Prim exclaims. "Can you believe that? Poor Buttercup was just trying to play."

"Yes, the squirrel took it one step too far, didn't he?" Haymitch mocks.

Prim giggles. "Well, I certainly thought so. I picked up Buttercup and gave the squirrels a mean look before taking him back inside." She says with such a tone of indignation, that I can't help but try to suppress a laugh at the naivety of my little sister.

The thought of Prim trying to coax a squirrel into being nicer is not hard to imagine since she's like that with everyone. She just wants everyone to get along and live happily. But life isn't happy, and I can't stand thinking of the day when Prim will realize this.

I wasn't there for Buttercup's squirrel hunt, but I can picture it exactly as Prim said. If there's anyone who could make an animal more docile, it's certainly Prim. Buttercup pretty much loathes anyone except her. He switches into being a loving, sweet fur ball whenever she's around, and converts back to his surly self in the presence of anyone else.

Just like me, Haymitch is trying to suppress a laugh at Prim's story. Prim just rolls her eyes at us, and continues helping my mom with his stings.

After we get Haymitch all bandaged up, Peeta and I help him get home so he can lie down and rest. All the way to his house he acts like it's insulting that we are helping him, but every time we pull away from him he starts stumbling around again until we put our shoulders back under his arms and help him keep moving. I half think he likes the attention though, so I put up with his insults all the way to his room.

"Just lay here and try to sleep, okay Haymitch?" I say. "We'll bring you dinner later on, and you can rest all night. Peeta and I can watch the Games without you tonight."

Peeta's head turns my way, and I meet his eyes that are questioning my decision, but he goes with it.

I go shopping with my mom and Prim today, since our combat day was much shorter than normal and the boys are taking it easy for the rest of the afternoon. We stop at the bakery first. My mom buys some bread from Ryker, and I seek out Mr. Mellark.

"Mr. Mellark?" I ask when I see him bring out a tray of sugar cookies.

"Katniss. I've missed your squirrels," he says with a smile.

I sigh. "I know. I hate asking this, but I was wondering if...if it might be okay for Peeta, Haymitch, and I to come by the bakery tomorrow to frost some things? I'll pay for the frosting and anything else we use."

"Of course!" his smile brightens. "You don't have to ask for my permission. Besides, we miss Peeta around here."

"Katniss, come on," Prim calls cheerfully from the door.

I nod at her, and turn back to Mr. Mellark, "Okay. Thanks. We'll be by around 9 then."

We head to the store next, and I throw some junk food into the basket, but Prim takes it out each time. One time my mom notices and scolds me saying I need to stay on a strict diet to gain muscle not fat.

As we're climbing the stairs to our house with the groceries, I notice Buttercup standing at the top waiting eagerly for us by the door. I furrow my eyebrows at him, because he looks a little strange, like his coloring is off. He's got something grey on him. _What is that?_

"Ah Buttercup!" I groan. That stupid, ugly cat. "Ha! I wonder if that's the same squirrel!" I say incredulously looking at his kill. "Atta boy!" I give him a hearty pat and continue inside, while blocking him from prancing in with his little prize.

Before I head over to Peeta's, I stop at Haymitch's house to give him dinner and let him know that the killer squirrel is dead courtesy of Buttercup. Haymitch looks at me with a distant, frightened expression.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

His eyes come back to life. "Yeah, of course, sweetheart," he says crabbily. "These stings just hurt like hell."

"Okay, well I'm going to Peeta's. I'll see you tomorrow."

Peeta's in the kitchen when I get there, fixing a plate of cookies, so I join him in there, because if he's planning to force feed me cookies then I will need some milk. I pull out his milk carton and get a couple glasses, because if he's human and I know he is, he will want milk with his cookies.

I pause before I pour it, "Have you been drinking straight from the carton again?" I ask him suspiciously.

He points to himself, "Me? Never." I look between him and the carton. _Well, that wasn't a definite yes...I suppose it's fine._

Peeta pushes play, and we settle down onto the couch in our normal places. We turn our heads back to the screen, and watch bored as the Tributes wander aimlessly through the fog. Dalit slashes his knife in the air, and the others swing their weapons at things they must be imagining. This goes on for a long time.

"These are good," I tell Peeta, who just smiles. I bite my lip. "Does it hurt?"

He looks at me with scrunched eyebrows. "Does what hurt?"

"Your sting."

He looks at his leg and the nasty red bump. "Oh. Nah. I've had worse." After a second he realizes what he alluded to accidentally.

"I am sorry about that," I say. He looks at me, reading my expression, probably to see if I really meant it.

"Katniss, you had no other choice."

We're silent for a few moments. I'm mulling over what I really want to say, and he's still staring at me.

"That was really brave, what you did." He had saved my life without a thought of his own.

"I'm not the only brave one in this house," he says.

We go back to being silent, and turn back to watch the Games. From the corner of my eye I notice him rubbing the muscles his neck. So I get up from the couch, walk around it, and start massaging his neck. He tilts his head to the back of the couch and looks at me with soft, blue, questioning eyes. I don't take my hands away, and he doesn't move away from my touch. I'm surprised when I notice how red his lips are. He tilts his head back down, and lets me massage his neck as we watch the boring fog Games.

I settle back down on the couch after a few minutes, and Peeta gets up and fast-forwards until we see more than one Tribute on the screen at the same time. We finally stop fast-forwarding once we see all four Tributes altogether on the screen. The commentators say that they probably used the fog to draw them close together for the final battle.

This is the first time we've seen Dalit next to another Tribute, and now he's got three to contend with. He clutches his knife and runs at the closest Tribute whose senses must still be tampered with because he neither sees nor hears him coming. Dalit jams the knife in his back, and the Tribute sinks to his knees and falls to the ground. Boom! Dalit watches the other two Tributes grapple and slice each other with their knives. Boom! Dalit looks poised to face the last opponent when he hears the final canon go off. His eyes go wide as they announce him as the Victor and pull him into the hovercraft.

Peeta turns the television off, and says, "Thanks Katniss," breaking the sudden silence in the room.

"For what?"

"The neck massage. I get knots a lot. Maybe tonight I'll be able to sleep," he laughs humorlessly.

"I hope you can."

He pulls me up off the couch with a little more force than he meant to, and he looks just as surprised when my body meets his. He looks down at my lips, and I look at his, and then in a flash our eyes meet. I swallow, and he steps back.

"You should start wearing chap stick," he says casually. "Your lips are chapped from the sun."

"Yeah, you should too," I say trying to match his tone, while briskly walking away from him towards the door.

**Workout Day 28, Thursday:**

"Why are we here?" Peeta asks before we go inside the Mellark's bakery.

I told Peeta and Haymitch that we were going to do something different today. Peeta looked at me like I was trying to slack off and be lazy again, but I assured him that even he would like my plan today.

"Yeah, what do you want us to learn here?" Haymitch asks. "Are we going to learn to eat pastries? We're supposed to put on muscle, not fat."

"No, Peeta's going to teach us some defense," I say. Peeta raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"What is it? Making you fat with cheese buns?" Haymitch looks me up and down like I should be watching my weight.

"No," I poke his love handles to shut him up.

"Are you going to teach us how to bake everyone to death Peeta?" Haymitch asks an irritated Peeta.

"Katniss what are we doing here?" Peeta asks. "No Tribute has ever had to bake to survive." He frowns at me.

"Your father agreed to let us do camouflage practice in the back," I say rather triumphantly. I didn't even have to bring him a single squirrel for that privilege. However if Buttercup had left the squirrel in good condition, I might have brought it to him. Oh well.

Peeta smiles slightly, and leads us into the back of the bakery. He sets out bowls of frosting, spatulas, pastry brushes, and decorating bags.

"Is this what you had in mind?" Peeta asks me.

"Sure, we'll do whatever made you so good at it," I compliment.

I wanted to do this today because I thought Peeta looked so happy being around Ryker last week. We have so little time left with our families, and I shouldn't be the only one who gets to see mine. We may be in the back, but I hope that maybe his family will get a chance to come back and talk to him every once in a while. I feel incredibly selfish the last month because I've been inadvertently keeping him away from his family and friends.

"It's best to have a base coat, followed by another thicker layer," he explains, showing us with quick strokes on his arms. "At least, that worked best in the last Games."

We practice on ourselves next, but Haymitch is packing more frosting in his mouth than on his arms. We shake our heads at him. Next, Peeta dyes the frosting different colors, and thinks of different ways we might be able to dye our skin in the Arena, although most of his ideas revolve around using mud.

"How did you get this scar?" I ask, noticing the scar on his neck for the first time.

"It's new."

"How did you get it and I didn't know about it?"

"I'm not with you all the time, Katniss," he says, and brushes my face with some frosting.

"Yes, you are," I insist incredulously, and wipe at the frosting. "We practically spend every waking moment together. What happened?"

He smiles, "It was a frosting injury."

"Pff!" I laugh. "A frosting injury?" I give him my best "unconvinced" look.

He merely raises his eyebrows in defense, and nods his head. But suddenly we're interrupted with a high-pitched, shriek.

"Peeta! Why are you wasting our frosting?" Peeta's mom asks him like he had just done the most atrocious thing imaginable. "And why did you bring these people back here?"

The way she leers over the words "these people" makes my blood boil. It reminds me of all those years ago when she caught me picking through their trash bins and she called me a "Seam brat."

"Mom, this is Katniss and Haymitch, and Dad said we could use it to practice camouflage."

"Well he didn't run that by me," she says as she starts striding over towards him with a rolling pin in her hands. "And he should have, because it's not right for you to come here and take our flour, steal Ryker away from a day of work, and use up all our frosting!" She's almost right next to him now, and he looks like he knows what's coming next, but isn't going to do anything to stop it.

"I asked Mr. Mellark if we could use the frosting, not Peeta," I proclaim. Mrs. Mellark turns towards me, and gives me a glare. "He had no part in this."

Peeta is not getting in trouble for this, not when it was my idea. I'm realizing only too late why he never brings us here in the first place. It's a shame too, because we were having a good time until the witch showed up.

Her anger flares, and I notice her gripping the rolling pin in her hands maliciously. I brace myself for an attack, and dare her to hit me with an undaunted glare.

Her lip curls in thought, and she says, "You did this? You would think a Seam brat would know not to waste valuable commodities. And on something I can't sell too," she says as she grabs my chin hard, and examines the frosting remnants on my face.

"Mom!" Peeta says more brusquely than I've ever heard, and he looks at her with a harsh and ill-tempered look.

She drops her hand from my chin, and looks between all of us, realizing that if she strikes me, or Peeta, she will have to deal with all three of District 12's Victors. Her expression switches from anger, to deliberation within a mere second. She is thwacking the rolling pin in her other hand, while silently considering what to do in this situation.

"You clear it with me next time," she finally says, pointing the rolling pin at me, and storming away.

_There won't be a next time_. No wonder Peeta barely comes here anymore. I understand why he bakes at home and never here.

"Oh, and Katniss," Mrs. Mellark says, "Your mother need not come in to the bakery. We will have Peeta deliver anything you or your family wants."

It would sound kind and thoughtful, if we all didn't know the contemptuous feelings and fresh anger that drove her to make that statement.

I always wondered if she hated my mom after Peeta told me that his dad wanted to marry my mom, and I guess now I have my answer. I can't imagine her embarrassment that he shared that with all of Panem. Maybe he said it to get back at her for implying that he wouldn't make it out alive? Does Peeta's grace have a limit? Or was he just delirious and uncensored with the pain?

"Let's get out of here," Peeta says dejectedly. We leave the bakery, and silently agree to skip combat training today. We walk home in silence for a few minutes, and I quickly get lost in thought.

I was a fool for thinking this would offer him family bonding time. His family couldn't be more different than mine. As Prim and my mom give their time and resources in support of all of us, his mom's selfishness breaks his family's meager support system until it's nothing but a hindrance for him. No wonder he said he wasn't lonely when I asked a couple weeks ago.

I mull over his words at dinner before our Games when he told me his mom said that District 12 might have a Victor because I was in the Games. How much must he hurt inside from that comment? He came home, alive, a Victor from those very Games! But she's still be so cold and uncaring, and I cannot fathom it.

I naively thought his family might have reconciled when he came home and proved his mom wrong. But she looked ready to swing at him, and me, with that rolling pin! Has nothing changed for him over the years? Did he take the abuse without defending himself?

_How could he have grown into the caring, selfless person that he is with all of that poison around him?_

"I'm sorry Katniss," Peeta says quietly to me, breaking me from my contemplation. His bright blue eyes hold the same sadness and frustration I saw when he told us that his mom said I was going to win instead of him.

"Peeta, you didn't do anything wrong," I say. "I can't believe she still talks to you like that."

"She talks to everyone like that," he attempts a smile, but fails. His eyes stare off in the distance, and I wonder if that really is true. He is a skilled liar after all.

"I wish she wouldn't, for your sake," I say genuinely. His eyes meet mine, and express something that I can't determine.

It's not a long walk from his family's bakery to the Victor's Village, and when we make it back Haymitch breaks off towards his house. Peeta walks with me to mine.

"Thanks for standing up for me," he says.

"What are friends for?"

"That, and to tell you when you have something on your face," his eyes narrow in on my left temple, and he laughs.

"What?"

"You have frosting, right here," he swipes at it, and licks it off his finger.

I laugh. "Thanks."

After showering off all the frosting on my face and flour in my hair, I throw on a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt that Cinna sent me, and re-braid my hair.

My mom and Prim made a huge dinner of turkey, and for the first time ever, there is no bread on our table, and I'm glad of it, because Peeta's mom has spoiled the sight of bread for me today. I wouldn't want to eat anything that her hands made. What a witch.

We begin the next Games tonight, of a District 5 Tribute, named Macon Glitz who is very skilled at climbing. He runs from the Cornucopia with only a rope and a flare, and heads towards the tallest tree he can see. I've never seen a flare at the Cornucopia, but maybe I've just never looked for one, because why would you want to attract attention to yourself.

The tree he selected is about a mile away, and he sprints the whole way there without anyone noticing him. He climbs it high up with ease, using the rope only as a precaution.

Once he reaches the top of the tree, he scans the arena, and smiles after staring in one direction for about a minute. The camera focuses in on what he was looking at, and we discover that there is a dam about three miles away from him.

"Is that dam part of the Arena?" Peeta asks Haymitch, but the commentators say that it is before Haymitch even gets to answer.

I suddenly am excited for Macon, but also scared. Is he really going towards the dam? And will it help him?

We see other Tributes finding and killing each other, with snippets of him hiking mixed in. Peeta fast-forwards until we see muttations on the screen. We always play those parts so we can add to our list of previous mutts. So far, they've all been different, but who knows.

The Gamemakers decided to make his hike a little more "exciting." Small mutts shoot up through the ground all around him and nip at his feet and legs, drawing blood but not slowing him down enough for them to really sink their teeth into him.

Finally he reaches the dam. By the time he makes it there are only twelve Tributes left. He cleans his wounds as best he can, and takes a much-needed rest. We fast forward for a while, once we realize that he isn't going to do anything for a while. Occasionally the Gamemakers send mutts his way, but he fights them off by climbing into the trees.

A little while later, he takes off his coat and socks, and dips them in a nearby pond. Then he shoots off the flare, leaves the wet clothes on a branch to dry, buries the flare gun under a bush, and sprints back up to the dam. Once the Tributes arrive, they focus in on his coat and socks that look like they were just washed. They figure that no sane Tribute would wander far away from their clothes, so they scour the area for him.

The Careers eventually give up on finding him, and decide to sit down and wait for him to come back, thinking he will surely wander back for his coat when it gets cold at night. Nothing happens for a long while, and we all start yawning, so Peeta gets up and stops the tape for the night, and we all bid each other goodnight.

**Workout Day 29, Friday:**

I get back to my house to take a shower and get ready before dinner, but when I turn to head into the living room that connects to the stairwell I run smack into Gale.

"Gale!" I exclaim in surprise.

He laughs and gives me a wide smile. "I didn't know I could sneak up on you in your own house. I must be pretty sneaky," he says with a mischievous grin.

I smile, because Gale can so easily sneak up on me or trap me that it's almost like second nature to him. "What are you doing here?" I ask him.

"I brought you something," he says.

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "What did you bring me?"

"I found these," he holds up a pair of black underwear with gemstones on the back of the underwear, "on the floor in my house."

My eyes are glued to the teeny piece of fabric that he is holding off of one of his fingers, but I don't say anything. It's not often that Hazelle loses an article of clothing. In fact, that's something she prides herself on. She's never misplaced any clothing for me, Prim, or my mom before.

"My mom must have dropped them while she was folding clean clothes," he says with a gleam in his eyes. "When I asked her about them, she blushed and tried to take them away from me. But I told her I would save her the trouble, and bring them over myself."

_Bold move indeed, Gale._

"Gale," I start to say, but he interrupts me.

"Personally, I wouldn't have thought these were your style," he says, but I interrupt him now because I can't bear for him to say another word about this pair of underwear.

"They're not," I say embarrassed. I actually feel my cheeks filling with color.

He looks surprised. "What?" he asked with a confused expression.

"They're..." I start.

Then we hear a sharp intake and a squeal from a few feet behind me. "Gale! What are you doing with my underwear?" Prim shrieks.

Now I'm smiling mischievously, because I knew that they weren't mine all along, and Gale didn't. He may be able to sneak up on me all the time, but I definitely got the better of him this time.

Gale looks shocked, and queasy, and horrified all at the same time. He extends them out to a hysterical Prim and looks away from both of us, clearly embarrassed by the turn of events.

Prim stalks away upstairs, and I try to muffle the laugh erupting out of me.

"How could you let me keep going on and on about them when you knew they weren't yours?" he asks quickly with wide eyes.

"It was just too funny," I say after my laughter has slowed to a soft chuckle.

"Why does Prim have those?" he asks with a traumatized tone in his voice.

"Prim has underwear too," I explain like he's being ridiculous.

"Underwear that says "Girl on Fire" on the back?" he questions.

I laugh. "Yeah, Effie sent me those, and I thought they were hideous, but Prim loved them, so I let her have them."

"Oh," he says and his eyes seem to not be containing his horror still, so I ask him, "Now that you're here, do you want to stay for dinner?"

"What?" he asks like he didn't even hear me.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Yeah, sure," he says quietly.

He must really be out of it, because normally Gale would put up a fight about being force fed food that will keep him from starving. He's so stubborn, and proud, always wanting to provide for himself and his family. However, if I was in his situation I would probably be no different.

"Great, I just need to go shower first and then I'll be back down, okay?"

"Okay. Wait, shower?" he snaps out of his daze.

I sigh at him and roll me eyes. "Yes

"Do you want to watch the Games with us tonight?" I ask hopefully, but already knowing his answer.

"As tempting as that sounds, my mom is probably worrying about why I'm not home yet."

"Okay."

When we head out the door to go to Peeta's, I break off from Peeta and Haymitch saying I'm going to walk Gale home and be back for the Games in a bit.

They look at me skeptically, but let me walk away without saying anything.

"How's your week been?" I ask casually. I don't get to talk to him as much, now that he works six days a week in the mine for twelve hours everyday. In fact, it's surprising that he stopped by my house last week, and this week for visits during the workweek. If he's tired, he isn't showing it right now, and I worry that he's being driven into the ground with the strict schedule.

"Long," he smiles. "I have to rely on Sundays to get me through the entire week."

I smile sheepishly. "Jeez, the rest of your days must be dreadful if you count hanging out with the three Victors of District 12 the highlight of your week."

"Not Haymitch or Peeta, just you," he says. "It's not the same as in the woods, but at least I get to see you, and talk to you."

I nod at him. I can understand that easily, because I miss having my best friend around too.

He gives my shoulder a playful nudge, and I swing my hips at his knocking him away from his path. "Jeez, what was that for?" he teases. I smile mischievously at him.

"I didn't know your hips were so strong," he laughs. I shrug.

We talk about our week, his down in the mine and at home, and mine with training and watching the Games. When we reach his house we bid each other goodnight, and I walk back to hopefully finish Macon's Games. I actually just really want to see if he uses that dam.

When I get to Peeta's I hop on the couch, which bounces Peeta in the air a little. He looks at me with a hint of a smile, but we watch Macon's next moves eagerly. I think we both want to see him release the dam, because I have no idea how one would do that.

The moment comes where the dam is released, but we don't get to see how he did it! The water gushes out and completely floods the entire area. Macon is safe in a tree, high enough away from the water level, but the other Tributes are not as lucky. They all drown within a few a minutes, and we hear the rest of the canons go off.

"I haven't seen any recent Tributes do anything like that," I say to no one in particular. "How come they didn't show how he did it?"

"There's a reason," Haymitch says. "Just think on it."

I let that stew, trying to figure out what the reason is. Whatever he has done has contributed to him winning, and why wouldn't other Tributes cash in on that?

"It made them mad, didn't it?" I ask Haymitch, who just nods at me.

**Workout Day 30, Saturday:**

Peeta makes a list of all the weapons we have some experience with and a chart of how good all of us are with them. He won't let us see our "scores" until the end of our workout and combat training though, since he says we haven't finished an entire of month of training until the end of today and we aren't allowed to get them early apparently.

Combat Skills:

Katniss-Throwing Knives: Excellent, Hand to Hand Combat: Okay, Tree Climbing: Excellent, Mace: Needs Improvement, Sword: Good

Peeta-Throwing Knives: Good, Hand to Hand Combat: Excellent, Tree Climbing: Needs Improvement, Mace: Okay, Sword: Good

Haymitch-Throwing Knives: Needs Improvement, Hand to Hand Combat: Good, Tree Climbing: Needs Improvement, Mace: Good, Sword: Okay.

"Needs improvement!" Haymitch and I say at the same time.

"Twice?" Haymitch sputters.

"And only "Okay" at hand to hand combat!" I ask Peeta incredulously. "I can pin you like it's nothing now!"

"Just keep telling yourself that," Peeta says without even looking up at me. "And yes, twice. I gave the scores I thought were accurate."

My jaw drops. My anger flares up when he doesn't even acknowledge me. So I tackle him for a little hand-to-hand combat practice. I pin him with Ryker's never-fail move.

"Change the score," I command Peeta.

"No, you still need to work on it," he says. "The only reason you can tackle me is because you cheated."

I pull his arm harder, "I'm not cheating!"

"I'm not changing it. The day you can pin Haymitch five times out of five, I'll change it."

"That's not fair. You can't even pin him five times in a row."

"Yes, I can. I did last week. That's why I gave myself the highest score."

I let him go, look over at Haymitch who clearly knows what's coming. I get up, and we circle each other for about ten seconds before we both lunge for each other.

Thud! "Ow!" I yelp. He slams my body into the ground face first.

"That's not going to work on me, sweetheart. Remember? I'm not the one who's in love with you." He holds my face into the ground, and my arms and legs flail trying to gain leverage. Somehow I manage to knock his ribs with my elbow, and he retracts his hand from the back of my head.

I roll my body into one of his legs, and he falls down to the ground in a heap. I pounce on him, and try to use my Peeta move on him, but I can't pin him with it. He pins me in a few moves, and I get up with an angry huff.

"Alright, how do I beat Haymitch?" I ask Peeta, swallowing my pride.

"You need to learn how to do that on your own," he says. "Haymitch is strong, and a lot of the Victors are going to be strong. You need to be ready for that, just in case."

I turn back to Haymitch, my eyes wild. "Ready to go, Little Mitch?" He growls at me, and we wrestle again. He wins every time, except the last.

I discovered a pattern that he uses against me, and exploit it to his surprise. I work swiftly to pull back his arms and stand on his legs for good measure. "Just say the word 'tap' when you're ready for me to let go."

"Never" he says. His breathing is labored, but he's not giving in yet.

"Say it!"

"No."

So I do the only thing I can think of next. I throw my body backwards with as much momentum as I can, and when his body falls backwards with me, I reach around and wrap my arm around his neck and hold tight. Our bodies slam into the ground, but I keep my hold around his neck. "Tap Haymitch!"

Haymitch's arms flail and reach for me, and I panic for a second when I can't think of any way to pin them down. But then I realize my legs are relatively free. I jerk them out from under his body and wrap them over his arms, crossing my feet in front of his chest.

"Katniss! Katniss stop!" Peeta yells frantically. I let Haymitch go and look at his face, which is beet red.

"What were you trying to do, kill me?" Haymitch wheezes, slumped on the ground.

Peeta smiles at me proudly, like he taught me everything I know. "You're getting better."

Tonight we start in on our fourth Games for the week. We are really flying now with Peeta fast-forwarding. The Victor for these Games is from District 4, and her name is Lyla Grey. Her Arena is full of rivers that run into a lake, but they aren't visible from the Cornucopia.

We decide to only watch the bloodbath before calling it a night, so we watch as Lyla flies off her platform and heads straight into the Golden Horn. _It must be nice to be a Career_. I think to myself. They can get whatever they want without having to fear for their lives.

Lyla quickly grabs a spear and starts to run out into the bloodbath, but backpedals when her eyes notice something in the Horn. She walks straight over to a two-pronged hook attached to a long rope. She gets a gleam in her eye as she picks it up. She emerges from the Cornucopia, and spears a Tribute about ten feet away that is running for a sword. It plunges all the way through his chest and he falls down dead.

She whirls around the hook, and actually manages to frighten away a few Tributes in her vicinity. However, a girl Tribute has her back turned after racing in for a backpack and snatching it without taking in her surroundings. Lyla whips the hook around faster and faster, and then lets it fly at the girl. The girl lets out an agonized cry, and falls to the ground. Lyla sees a knife lying in the grass, and picks it up. She makes her way to the Tribute, and says something no one understands before slicing the girl's throat. It's her last kill in the bloodbath, although we suffer through the rest of the kills just to make sure we don't miss any other fighting techniques. When the canons finally sound, Peeta shuts off the television and we all walk away to try to overcome the nightmares once again.

**AN: In a previous chapter I mentioned that there were 55 Victors-I think that's what I originally put-well...when I found my books I re-read and found out the number was actually 59...so I edited that previous chapter, and now I will be adding in 4 more Victors. Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**Anonymous review replies:**

**Gina-Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you like this story, and I personally love Katniss and Haymitch's relationship. I see them being very similar in nature. So glad to hear that you are laughing out loud because of it! That put a smile on my face, because I laugh out loud while writing this story :)**

**Guest-Thanks for reading and reviewing! Twice! I'm glad you like the idea for this story. I don't think I've ever found a story quite like this on here. Yes, I will be telling the back-story of all of the living Victors! I will narrow in on more details for Victors we already know and love-or hate-but I will include the main points and fighting techniques of all of them. Glad to hear that you like the long chapters. And yay for more Gale! :) I hope you enjoyed the extra bit of Gale on Friday.**


	6. Chapter 6

Hello all! I'm sorry to say this is not a new chapter... I just wanted to let y'all know why I've been absent lately. Since my last update I have been working frantically on final wedding plans, had several extensive job interviews, got hired for a full-time, traveling position (which is insanely hectic, I wish I was kidding about that part...), started my position and already traveled for it, was involved in a good friend's wedding a couple states away, and helped my future hubby find and move into our first place! I will be absent for a little while longer because...I get married on Saturday! Yay! So that means the next chap won't be out for a little while longer. Boo!

You are all so patient and kind, and I really appreciate that. I am happy to say that I do have about 5k written for the next chapter. I would have given you Sunday in this "excuse update", which is the best day :) but it's not finished yet. I will post as soon as humanly possible, but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your wonderful reviews and patience with my chapter updates! I thought about posting what I have, but I just can't post a half-written chapter. You deserve more than that! Until then, and thanks for sticking around!


	7. Geese

Chapter 6: Geese

**I'm back! I have good and bad news...first for the good news..I am officially married! YAY! Alright, on to the bad news...I regret to inform you WONDERFUL readers that during the rehearsal dinner my laptop was stolen...therefore all of this chapter and most of my pre-writing for the rest of this story was lost...**

**So, I'm working from memory to recreate what I had written. I apologize in advance for any delay in updates because of this. I will, however, be able to maintain a regular updating schedule now because I'm done with my long travel season for work, and I'm no longer working 12-16 hour days. **

**Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story, has it on alert, or favorited it! Thank you to my last reviewers: Jerry Side, ****moonlight goose, Pinklove 21, Guest, HAPPY KID 21, Nola96, HGlover7, Me, Eliptical, I-am-a-Firefly, Ellenka, and To be a rebel. Your reviews are so heartwarming and appreciated. They really make my day :D **

**Workout Day 31, Sunday: **

Katniss' POV

"Come on Peeta, hurry up," I whine. "You have got to be the slowest shoe-tyer I have ever seen in my life! Even when Prim was like three years old she tied hers faster than you."

"What are you in such a hurry for?" Peeta asks.

"I'm not…"

"Sure about that?

"Yeah," I shrug. "Any day without pushups is a good day."

He laughs, "I don't know why you hate those so much."

We make our way to the meadow and start our warm up jog, even though we're just working on snares today. I'm running out in front, and halfway through our lap I feel a pair of hands wrap around my waist, which makes me jump. _Peeta or Haymitch wouldn't grab me like that…would they?_

I turn around to find Gale with his face stretched into a mischievous grin, his upper body halfway turned away in preparation of a retributive jab, but when I smile he relaxes.

We slow down and walk the rest of the way back to the tree. "One of these days, Gale...you won't sneak up on me anymore."

"You and I both know, I was always the more sly one."

"You were sly in other ways too..." I hear Peeta mumble from behind, and I turn to look at him. He's stares at the ground and won't meet my eyes.

I feel Gale's eyes on me, and instead of the comment inciting a bitter exchange between him and Peeta, I find Gale examining my expression. None of us say anything for a few awkward seconds, until Haymitch interrupts us by running straight through the middle of our circle, brusquely bumping each of us with his shoulder as he goes past.

"Rude" I call out.

"Not...[breath]...when it's...you, sweetheart," Haymitch says, clearly winded by the half-mile around the meadow.

I take another look at the boys' faces, who are intently examining my face. I don't have anything to say, so I turn around and jog to catch up to Haymitch's sluggish pace.

"Sorry to break up...the love triangle...sweetheart," Haymitch says between breaths.

"I'm not in a love triangle," I huff in disgust.

"Really?" he sounds unconvinced. "Make sure...it stays...that way." He gives me a pointed look.

"Yeah, yeah. There's no point to me dating anyways..." I look back at Gale running silently beside Peeta, and wonder what things might be like if there were no Hunger Games, heck if there were no Capitol...Gale gives me his trademark smile, and I try to smile back, failing miserably. His expression turns stern. I can tell he's worrying about what Haymitch is talking to me about, so I shake my head at him and face forward.

"So...you're saying...that the...feisty one back there...isn't your boyfriend?" Haymitch says with disbelief.

I'm silent, not knowing exactly what to say to that, since I don't quite have an answer myself as to that subject.

"I see...sweetheart. Well just...keep up...appearances...with you...know who...when the…cameras…are here," his breathing is chopping up his words more sharply with every stride.

"Yeah, yeah. Maybe this year we should get you a girlfriend so you can have the spotlight we took from you."

He looks at me with the strangest look I've ever seen on him. He doesn't say anything snide back, and part of me wonders if he's just too out-of-breath to say anything at all.

When we finish warming up and stretching, Gale reviews the snares we've learned as we do every Sunday before learning a new one, and I make it through two of the snares before Peeta and Haymitch even finish one. I notice both of them, especially Haymitch, sneaking peeks at my snares.

"Cheaters," I turn my nose up playfully at them, "have you already forgotten it all?" I steal away a few yards, and turn my back to them. I finish the rest of the snares, and lay them out with pride for Gale to examine.

"Look at you," Gale says as he walks over to my side. "You're already done. What-did you finally start listening to me?"

"I always listen to you."

Gale rolls his eyes at me. "Is that so?"

I nod, but he eyes me skeptically.

"Okay. What did I just say?" he asks, grinning wildly.

"You said, 'is that so?'" I say triumphantly.

"No, I meant before I came over here."

"Oh," my face drops. _Dang I really do need to start listening better._ "Um, you praised me for being done so fast." _Please be what he said..._

Gale laughs. "The opposite actually. I said that you didn't tie your last snare right."

"I did too," I defend myself. "What's wrong with it?" I hold it up for him to examine it closer.

Gale grabs the end of the rope, and gives it a slight tug. All of the boys laugh as they watch the whole thing unravel and my eyes widen in shock and embarrassment.

"It was correct," I say in irritation. "You just know how to untie them quickly."

"True," Gale gives me a devilish side smile and raises his eyebrows at me. My eyes widen a bit and I feel my cheeks redden but I don't understand why. Gale doesn't normally smirk at me like that, not that I minded it. I don't know really know what to think of it. I look back up at him, and he's looking at me with a curious expression. "What?" I ask. He chuckles in reply, and walks back over to the boys.

"Want a hand with that, sweetheart?" Haymitch calls out to me.

"No thanks, Little Mitch."

Haymitch glares at me. "What did you say?"

"Woah, woah. Don't get your panties in a wad, Haymitch," Gale interjects. "Yours is wrong too by the way."

"Which one?"

Gale's eyes sweep Haymitch's snares. "All of them," he says with a laugh. He is clearly enjoying being the source of our group's knowledge on snares.

He tugs on the snare Haymitch was working on, and it falls apart just like mine did. He laughs when he sees the irritation on Haymitch's face and walks back over to me, probably because Haymitch has few boundaries against attacking people who frustrate him.

"Gale" I call, "could you teach us the deadfall trap?

"Sure. Why that one?" he asks.

"Well, we don't really know what the Arena will be like yet, and that trap can be made big or small...better to be prepared for anything right?"

He stares into my eyes for a couple seconds, and finally nods his head a little. "Alright, we're going to need to get four flattish rocks, and a bunch of sticks. If you can find twelve, that would be ideal."

We go off to search for the materials, and find plenty of sticks, but we don't find very many large rocks, so Gale and I head to the mine because there are plenty of rocks there. As we're leaving we hear Peeta tell Haymitch that they're going to go for another jog until we get back, to which Haymitch groans and yells, "You hurry with those rocks, Katniss. No dawdling!"

Gale and I laugh, but I don't mind being away from Haymitch so I don't walk any faster.

After a minute of comfortable silence, Gale says, "For some reason I forgot why I was teaching you these snares..."

I don't know what to say back. I want to comfort him, tell him that everything will be fine, that I'll come back to him, but I know I won't. He loves me, and he's going to lose me, and not only that but he has to watch me die or he'll risk repercussions from the Peacekeepers for not watching. His silver eyes look into mine with a piercing, desperate search for my intentions. I've seen his eyes become intense for all sorts of reasons, but the way he's looking at me right now is almost more than I can bear because I'm afraid of what he'll do if he finds out my plan to save Peeta. So instead of saying comforting words, I reach for his hand and hold it tightly. He squeezes my hand and while no one is around we walk hand in hand.

When we get to the mine, there's no one around and it's eerily silent. I hate being here because it reminds me of the day my father died, and it makes me wonder how Gale has the strength to bear it. I look at him, and can tell that it makes him uncomfortable to be here too, but he's handles it much better than I do. We dig through the rubble until we find four flat rocks. I try to carry half, but Gale swipes them out of my arms and places them on top of the other two, and we head back to the meadow.

He shows us how to make the deadfall trap with a rock and three sticks. First you jam one of the sticks into the ground so that it points vertically, then you tie the other two into a V, and finally you tie the V-shaped sticks sideways onto the vertical stick. The V formation goes horizontally, and it ends up looking like the number 4. The final step is to balance the rock on the vertical stick and the end of the top horizontal stick so that it falls when the stick is knocked. It's trickier than it sounds though, because you can't expect a small animal to knock into a stick with a lot of force on accident, but you don't want the rock to be so wobbly that it falls when a gust of wind comes through.

"Ow!" Haymitch yells.

We look over and laugh when we see that he slammed the rock down on his hand, for the third time...

Peeta and I are doing pretty well at it, but Peeta takes _years_ to set it up, so I doubt that he'll actually set this one up in the arena. At least he knows how to do it, and what it looks like so he can make sure to avoid it though.

We take a break from our snares when Madge shows up with her father's Capitol newspaper, and we see that this week they're featuring the District 2 to have a 'Victor of the Victors'. They list Enobaria, Brutus, Romola, and Orso as the top four contenders, and we can see a list of the exorbitant amounts of money that people in the Capitol are betting on them to win the 75th Games. Brutus is in the lead position and Enobaria is second in line. I realize that I've seen Enobaria's Games, because I was four when she won, but Brutus' Games must have been some time around Haymitch's, so we won't see his for another few weeks.

"Haymitch, what's Brutus like?" I ask.

"Well, his name certainly fits."

My face must have sank, because Haymitch laughs a little and says, "It means that he's stupid." I look relieved, until he says, "But yes, he is a brute."

"How are we going to beat him?" I ask.

"You don't even know if he'll be in the Games," Gale says trying to keep me calm.

Haymitch looks at him like he's the stupid one, and says, "There's a very slim chance that he won't get reaped, but even if he doesn't, he's not the only brute coming out of 2's Victor pool."

I start shaking my head like this is impossible task, but Peeta interrupts my thoughts, "Katniss, Cato was a brute too, and he didn't take us out, did he? We'll just have to take District 2 out first. We can do that at the Cornucopia. Okay?"

I like the idea of not having to worry about 2 after the bloodbath is over, even if I don't know how we'll take them out. "Okay," I nod my head at him.

After we finish the newspaper, Madge sneaks back home and we work on snares again. I was doing well before we read the paper, and now I can't get the rock in my snare to balance correctly. At one point it falls down on my knee, which does not feel good, so Gale comes over and helps me until I get my technique back.

We successfully finish our snares, and make our way back to my house for dinner. Then we walk over to Peeta's to finish Lyla Grey's Games. She's a District 4 Tribute, and we already know that there are a lot of bodies of water in her Arena, which she likely uses to her advantage since she's the Victor.

Last night we watched her spear a boy from ten feet away, then she launched a hook into a girl's back, finishing her off with a small knife while she lied in the grass. I can't forget the way she slit her throat. It was as if she's been doing that all her life.

Peeta turns on the television and pushes play, while I turn into Gale to avoid watching her kill any more children.

"Hey, it's okay," Gale says, "You don't have to watch." He smooths the hair on the back of my head and lets me nuzzle my head into his chest.

I hear Peeta sigh. "Yes, she does. Katniss, were watching this for a reason, remember?"

"Yeah," I say dejectedly as I turn back to the screen. _I really don't like these Games. _

"Did you both see what she did during the bloodbath?" Haymitch asks Peeta and I. I think he could care less that Gale is with us.

"Yeah, she murdered two children in cold blood," I say in frustration.

"She's good with a spear, hook, and a knife," Peeta responds.

"She's not only lethal with each, but she's showing everyone what she can do," Haymitch says. "It was her audition."

_Ugh, what a great person._ "Why was she auditioning if she's already a career?" I ask.

"These are older Games, sweetheart," Haymitch says. "There wasn't always a set career pack. Besides, most packs have a leader, and she wants to be the leader."

"Okay, that makes sense, but why does it matter if there was a career pack in some Games but not in others?"

"Why?" he asks back, as if his point is obvious.

"Yeah, why does it matter," I ask.

"Why do you think we're doing this Katniss? It's not just to get to know the Victors and how they fight. It's more than that."

I get the feeling that he wants to say more, that he's trying to teach me something, but I can't grasp his objective.

Haymitch can tell I'm struggling to figure out his point, and finally he says, "Just think about it, okay sweetheart?"

"Okay." I look over at Gale to see if he understands it, and he just shrugs and says, "To me the Games are the Games." I know by that he's really wishing to curse them and talk about how wrong they are, but he remembers that he's in a bugged, Capitol built house. So I turn to Peeta, and raise my eyebrows in question to see if he understands Haymitch. He nods at me like I'm on the verge of understanding it too. _Dang, how come Peeta always understands Haymitch better than I do!_

Peeta sees my frustration and leans in to whisper in my ear, "He's looking at the big picture," is all he says before he settles back into his spot and takes more notes.

_The big picture? What's the big picture? _

I don't get a chance to figure it out though, because Haymitch starts up another conversation. "I'm surprised you don't have as strong a jaw as him," Haymitch says to me and nods his head towards Gale. "You both clench your jaw more than you smile."

"Like you're any different," I say.

"Now Peeta on the other hand might benefit from scowling more," Haymitch continues. ""His face is too mushy from smiling all the damn time" he says to Peeta, who just flashes him his best smile.

"No…" Haymitch whines.

So Peeta examines my face, and tries to wipe his smile away, which just makes him smile even bigger. "I can't do it," he laughs. "I'm not good at frowning."

"I'm being serious, Peeta," Haymitch says. "You look like easy prey with your happy face. Make it more like mine."

"What? Lacking in youth and good looks?" Peeta quips.

Haymitch is instantly peeved. "Like ours," he points towards himself, me, and Gale.

Peeta quickly examines our faces, doubling back to mine noticeably, and without missing a beat, Gale inches closer to me.

Haymitch claps his hands, "Just like that!"

"Like what," Peeta asks confused.

"Like boy toy over there," he motions to Gale.

"Haymitch," I snap. "Stop it."

"It's okay, Catnip," Gale says. "He's just...off...today."

Haymitch directs his surly expression at Gale. "You know, Gale, you're often the opposite of your name's meaning...has your mom ever considered renaming you?"

"No," Gale snips. "Besides, the thing that brings me joy is being shipped off to torment soon. Should I be happy about that?" he asks, matching Haymitch's tone.

"Jeez, are the three of you on your time of the month or something?" Peeta asks. "It's like your cycles have lined up…"

We look at Peeta, and all roll our eyes at him.

"Alright, I get it," he throws his hands up in defense. "I'll be right back" he says, and walks towards the kitchen.

"What's your deal today, Haymitch?" I ask. "You seemed fine at breakfast."

"I was fine."

"Well, what happened since then?"

"Look, don't try to make me the focal point..."

Peeta comes back from the kitchen juggling a few plates. "For the girls..." Peeta hands Gale and Haymitch each a small plate of chocolate chip cookies.

"Thanks?" Gale says.

"Thanks, mom," Haymitch snips.

Peeta rolls his eyes. "And for the lady..." he hands me a plate of buns covered with melted butter and cinnamon. "One more thing," he says to me, and walks back to the kitchen, dropping his face to try to hide a smile.

He returns with a cup of steaming hot chocolate, and hands it to me. I can't help but smile. He sits beside me on the couch, a little closer than normal when Gale's here, which I can tell alerts Gale slightly.

"So, what is that? Muddy water?" Gale asks.

"I would never give her that," Peeta says. "It's hot chocolate." He sees Gale's confusion, and says, "It's from the Capitol."

Gale sits a little taller. "You seem pretty proud of the fact that you can get that from _the Capitol," _he says using the affected Capitol accent.

"Puh!" Haymitch sputters. "I got her hot chocolate for her birthday last week too. It's not that difficult to get, kid."

"It's only easy for us, Haymitch," Peeta reminds him.

The whole room goes silent, and Gale doesn't say anything either, so we all settle in to watching Lyla's Games again. Lyla joins the Careers from District 1 and 4, but doesn't seem to want the District 2 girl to join, even though eventually that's exactly what she does. Surprisingly, the boy from District 2 was killed in the bloodbath. We fast forward since the cameras are following the Career pack as they look through the packs to find food, but all of the sudden we see the announcers come on and we stop and rewind to see if we missed something.

It turns out that Lyla caught the girl from District 2 eating food while they were scouring the Cornucopia for supplies, and without a moment of hesitation Lyla chucks a spear through her back. Boom!

"Yikes," I say. "She's like Cato."

Peeta jots notes down, and we continue watching to see what happens next. But the rest of the Careers just walk away from the girl from 2 without a word, and eventually we have to fast forward since nothing happens for a while.

"I wish I knew when they were going to fight…" Peeta says. He's constantly fast forwarding and rewinding now that we've gone into hyperdrive on getting through these Games.

"I might be able to help you out," Haymitch says with a gleeful look in his eye.

Peeta looks at him, "How?"

"I might know somewhere we can get that information," he responds casually.

Peeta furrows his brows. "What's the catch?"

"Ten bottles of white liquor, and I'll get you what you want," Haymitch says.

Peeta laughs, and says "No."

"Katniss?" Haymitch asks.

"No," Peeta interjects. "She's not going to get you any either. Remember our deal?" he asks looking at me to make sure I remember what he'll do if I give Haymitch alcohol. And I do. I don't want to be in the stocks any more than Haymitch does.

We continue watching Lyla's fighting techniques, and it becomes clear that she's skilled with most of the weapons in the arena. The Career pack kills off a majority of the other Tributes, but they lose the girl from District 1, and the boy from District 4 in the process, so then it comes down to Lyla and the boy from District 1.

"So a duel it is," says the boy from 1.

"I guess so," she says, and surprises us all when she reaches over to shake his hand. I think he's surprised too, because he stares at her hand for a few seconds before reaching out and shaking it.

They draw swords, and begin circling each other. And just when I'm categorizing the finale as another sword fight duel between Careers, the ground between them splits open as if an earthquake is happening. The announcers come on and say that it isn't a real earthquake, that it's just a Gamemakers trick. When they pan back to the Games we see both Careers frantically running away from the chasm. She's running towards a lake off to her right, and he's running to a small patch of trees.

"Haymitch-" I start, but he shushes me and holds up his hand, his eyes glued to the television screen.

Lyla and the boy from 1 run for about a minute, before the boy ends up scrambling up a tree. Lyla looks over at him, and stops for a second to observe her surroundings. She keeps searching for something. _What's she doing? The split is getting closer to her. _

But then we see what she hears. A huge wave of water is filling the ravine and flooding the surface. It looks like the whole arena is flooding, and I'm not entirely sure the Gamemakers thought about what would happen if they split the ground open.

All of the sudden she sprints towards the tree nearest to the one that the boy from 1 is on, before the ravine can block her from getting there. She climbs it quickly while watching the ground crack open just twenty feet away from the trees they're taking refuge in. The water from all the surrounding rivers and lakes devours the ravine, and while she doesn't seem too concerned about the water, the boy from 1 looks very alarmed. She reaches a limb that's about three feet higher than where he is, and she starts going through her pack for something.

The Tributes picked an unfortunate spot, since the patch of trees seems to already be in a ravine like area, and as more and more water gushes in, the water level rises drastically in mere seconds. The announcers start wondering how either Tribute will survive, and call the phenomenon we're looking at a "flash flood."

His eyes are glued to the water, and hers are glued to him. The water has reached their ankles, but all of the sudden the camera switches to Lyla, who is now wrapping the end of a rope to her hand. She waits with her hand in her bag, her eyes switching between the rising water and the boy from 1. When the water reaches the boys neck he lets go of his death grip on the tree and tries to swim. The announcers say that his heart rate suggests that he is in a state of panic and may end up drowning. They ask each other if he can swim, but neither of them know until they go silent and see that he has begun swimming-well more doggy paddling than actual swimming. He's just focused on trying to keep his head above water.

The camera pans to Lyla, and we see her pull the two-pronged hook out of her bag and toss it behind her a little ways. She loops the attached rope around her hand a few more times, and swings the hook above her head. Her aim was perfect, or I'm guessing she would say it was because one of the prongs pierces straight through his skull, and a mere second later we hear the canon sound. Boom!

"Huh," Haymitch finally says after Peeta turns the television off. "She wasn't kidding."

Peeta and I frown at him, but we're too tired to investigate, and we don't want to talk about what we just saw, so we just say goodnight and head to bed.

Gale follows me upstairs after we get back to my house, and as soon as he partly shuts my door, he takes my hand and leads me into the moonlight coming through the window in my room. "Katniss, I've been wondering…" He stops mid-sentence and changes his mind, shakes his head slightly. "Some Games huh?" he says grimly.

"Yeah." I don't know what else to say about Lyla's Games, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have plenty of bad dreams about it, so I can't see any good reason to talk about it.

Gale gets it, and changes the subject. "Did you see Haymitch trip over the rock on the way back to town?" he laughs.

I laugh softly, remembering how red Haymitch's face got after that. "Yeah, he didn't look at us for like ten minutes."

"What we're you going to say, Gale?" I ask after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, it was nothing," he shrugs. "Are you tired?"

"Not really. The Games, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I won't be able to sleep for a while either. Maybe I could help you fall asleep," he says with a smile. He picks me up and gently lays me down on my bed.

"But you have to get up so early," I say.

"Catnip, this is the only day I get to see you. I'll take sleep-deprived over not seeing you any day. Are you sore anywhere?"

"My back is a little bit."

"Here, flip over," he says, as he gently scoops me up and rolls me over on my stomach. Then he tucks me under the covers, but leaves my back uncovered. He starts massaging my sore muscles, and finds I have even more knots than the previous times he's massaged me. He starts talking about all my knots, and how he doesn't understand how I get these all the time, and at some point I fall into semi-consciousness, because the last thing I remember is Gale planting a kiss on my forehead and whispering "good night."

**Workout Day 32, Monday: **

I wake up with a smile on my face, and realize that I didn't wake up because of any nightmares last night, which is strange because Lyla's Games had a particularly gruesome ending. I don't know if I don't remember the nightmares, or if they really didn't happen, but I slept through the night, and I'm starting to think that Gale has something to do with that.

I can't remember having any nightmares when he puts me to sleep. Maybe it's because he smells of wood smoke and that comforts me somehow. Or maybe it's because I can hear his heart beat more clearly right before bed, when all is quiet and his body is next to mine. These nights are few and far between, but after they're over they make me wish for another, and another.

After breakfast at my house we head off to the meadow. Today is our yoga day with Madge, and I'm actually looking forward to it today because I miss seeing Madge. I used to see her everyday at school, but now that I don't go anymore I've been missing my time with her.

She starts us off in the normal warm-up routine, and I start wondering if I would feel better or worse if I stayed in these poses for a longer amount of time than she has us hold them. Madge must have the timing down perfectly though, because I always feel energized and relaxed after we're done.

I hear a sound behind us as we're holding a pose and reach for an arrow reflexively only to realize I don't have any arrows on me, or a bow. The noise turns out to be a tiny squirrel searching for nuts.

"Aww…Is someone afwaid of a wittle sqwirrel? Haymitch taunts me when he sees me try to shoot it with my invisible arrow.

"Yeah, you are…" Peeta says casually. Haymitch pushes him over, but Madge scolds him and that ends the spat.

But I turn back around, lost in thought. _They probably won't have a bow for me this year. What if I don''t have a bow? _All of the sudden I'm brought back to Gale's words before the Games last year.

…..

_"You've got to get your hands on a bow. That's your best chance." _

_"They don't always have bows," I say…_

_"Then make one…Even a weak bow is better than no bow at all."_

…_.._

_Could I make one…if I had to? _

"Katniss?" Madge says.

I look around and they're all stretched into an awkward pose with their arms above their heads, so I instantly segue into the pose to catch up. "Sorry, Madge."

She smiles like the sweet girl she's always been, and kicks our butts at yoga one more time.

I try to keep up as best as I can, but my mind is stuck on the possibility that I might not have a bow in the arena. It's easy enough to make new arrows, but making a bow takes a lot of time, which I won't have, not to mention a lot of skill, which I don't really have either. When we break for lunch, I barely eat and talk even less than normal. Haymitch couldn't care less, but Peeta and Madge keep eyeing me like something's the matter.

I feel a sharp slap on my hand, and Haymitch says, "Stop biting your nails. It's a bad habit."

"What's wrong with it?" I ask.

"It's bad for your teeth," Madge pipes up.

"Yeah, plus you look like you're scared spit-less," Haymitch says.

I scowl at him, and get up with a brilliant idea. "Let's make bows," I say determinedly.

"What?" Peeta asks me.

"We should spend some time learning to make bows," I respond. But everyone is looking at me like I'm a lost cause, so I continue, "In case the Gamemakers don't leave weapons at the Cornucopia." I start scouring the area for long, thick branches. The thicker the branch-the better for making a bow. Really, I should be looking in the woods…but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

"Katniss, what are you doing?" Peeta calls from where they're eating lunch.

"I'm collecting branches," I say without looking at him. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Just come finish your lunch, and then we'll talk about making bows," Peeta says.

I reach for a nice, thick branch from the oak tree we eat under, but move my hand away quickly when I see Haymitch stomp on it. "Get off it," I command.

He raises his eyebrows at me, but doesn't move his foot.

"Get off it, _please_?"

Instead he reaches down and picks up a pinecone.

"What are _you_ doing?" I ask.

He points to himself, "Me? Oh I'm collecting pinecones. They're great for chucking at Victors. See-watch…" he says, and throws one at Peeta. It falls short by at least ten feet, and Peeta just turns back around to talk to Madge.

"Aren't they great? I nearly killed Peeta with that one," he mocks.

I scowl at him. "Okay, maybe you don't see the point of making a bow, but everyone knows that it's my weapon of choice. I wouldn't put it past the Gamemakers to make sure they won't have a bow this year. Heck, I wouldn't put it past Snow to make it a direct order not to have them there. Who do you think they want killed off first in these Games, Haymitch?" I say a little louder than I meant to. I look at Peeta and Madge, and they're staring sadly at me and my branches.

The rest of the day we make bows in case we'll have to do that in the arena, well that's why I make one at least. I think Peeta and Haymitch are making them because they can't think of anything else to do instead, and they'd rather not deal with "feisty kitty," which is what Haymitch called me after I slapped away his pinecones.

It's harder than I thought, making bows from the memory of my dad's few instructions. Instructions I was given when I was nine years old. We break three branches before we actually have some possible bow staves. The first ones I collected weren't thick enough, or long enough. I forgot how long they have to be when you begin working on them.

After a long afternoon of carving, shaping, breaking, and getting splinters in our hands, we make our way home for dinner and the Games. Since we finished Lyla's Games last night, we start on the next Victor's Games, Woof McGow. It's a strange name, but they have pretty strange names in District 8. After the bloodbath at the Cornucopia is over, it's pretty clear that the Gamemakers made sure the arena has hardly any food. Haymitch says that this is the Games where the feast began.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the feast," I say. "We haven't seen it in any other Games. Why'd they start it with this one, Haymitch?"

"Rumor has it that the people in the Capitol wanted to make the Games truer to their name."

I make a disgusted clicking noise in my throat, but Haymitch looks at me and says, "You have to remember something, the people in the Capitol don't have the same 'drive' to find food. Not like what we have," he says, and motions between himself and me. "Watching them starve right in front of their eyes….that was new for them. But then they also didn't like watching them die from starvation, so…enter 'the feast.'"

Peeta and I look at him with shock written on our faces, and he just shrugs. Woof doesn't do a whole lot for the first part of the Games, and the Career pack is busy trying to thin out the group of Tributes for the first few days. By day six the Careers have run completely out of food even with rationing and gifts from sponsors, and four of the Tributes have died from starvation. The Careers begin searching for food along with the rest of the Tributes and the announcers start complaining that there haven't been any fallen Tributes for two days.

By day nine, the only Tributes left are Woof, the boy from 7, the girl from 4 and both from 2. Most of the fallen Tributes have died from starvation, and we gather from the announcers that the Capitol is very displeased. We don't actually get to see Woof until it comes down to the feast.

The Gamemakers set out a long table by the Cornucopia and fill it with plates of hot meals, desserts, drinks, and bags of goodies. All of the Tributes are so desperate for food that they stagger over to the table, sit down, and start eating. Even the Careers don't raise their swords in a fight, and we watch as all of them eat their food like animals.

"Eff would be having a fit," I say, but it really is disturbing to see these kids so desperate for food.

Well this makes the Capitol even more upset because now the Tributes are all together and no one is fighting. The announcers talk about how they wished they would stop eating and fight to the last Tribute.

I start wondering how anyone will win these Games with the Tributes tamed from nearly starving to death. But I don't have to wonder for long, because the boy from 2 grabs a roll off the girl from 4's plate, and that sets things into commotion. The girl goes into a rage, grabs her sword and sticks the boy from 2 until the canon sounds. The rest of the Tributes start looking around like they walked straight into a disaster, and the ones from the outlying Districts try to grab food and run away. But the Careers have had their fill since they weren't as hungry as the Tributes without sponsor gifts, and they tear after them until the "feast bloodbath" comes to an end. The boy from 1 and the girl and boy from 4 are the only ones left by the Cornucopia, so they fight each other thinking that it's come down to the three of them. They don't realize that Woof grabbed food, hid it in his clothes, and ran away while everyone was still on there way to the feast.

The boy from 1 takes out the boy from 4 and makes some pretty deep cuts in the girl from 4, but she slashes the sword through his stomach and he dies quickly. She thinks she's the Victor so she falls down in the grass and tries to contain the bleeding until the hovercraft arrives. But it doesn't. The camera pans to Woof who's devouring his food in the woods, completely unaware that he could soon become the Victor. We watch as the girl from 4 slowly bleeds to death in confusion and desperation and when we hear the final boom, we know that Woof has become the Victor.

**Workout Day 33, Tuesday:**

"Who taught you how to do this?" Peeta asks me as we get back to working on our bows.

"I tried to learn from my dad's bows," I say. "He mostly used the one that is hidden out there in the woods, but he made new ones occasionally. The new ones were mostly for me, as I was growing up."

"Most kids get new clothes, you got new bows?" Peeta asks with a smile.

"I guess so. I only saw him make new ones a few times though, and I was usually pretty small and uninterested," I say, just as I snap the stave I was working on. "Dammit!" I throw the broken pieces down.

"Katniss, it's okay," Peeta tries to comfort me. "I've done that three times."

"I know, but I shouldn't be the one breaking them," I say. "I'm supposed to be teaching you guys. I'm supposed to know how to do this!"

In my frustration I break another two staves, and throw a third stave down after deciding it's unsatisfactory.

"Katniss, I'm having trouble with my bow," Peeta says feigning frustration. "Can we work on something else. Do you know how to make arrows too?"

"Yeah," I say, and I finally realize how irritated my tone is. After that, Peeta makes an executive decision to go back to his house for the rest of the day to make arrows. We bring as many bundles of wood as we can carry back to Peeta's, and start carving arrows after we eat lunch. I've been making arrows since I was 12, so this process goes much smoother than making bows.

Usually I make them with Gale, but we haven't in so long since we can't hunt anymore. We don't really need to make very many since we can practice with the ones that my father left me, but I feel like it's good for us to know how to make them.

Tonight we start the 26th Hunger Games, and the Victor is from District 6. His name is Leon, and Haymitch tells us that a lot of the Victors from 6 are addicted to morphling, and he's one of them.

When the Capitol sees how the feast created another "bloodbath" type of event, they decide they love it and try it earlier this year so that no Tributes die of starvation and aren't so desperate when they get to the feast.

This feast is unlike the one from Peeta and my Games because there are sacks of food instead of bags of supplies. Leon hides near the table of food since he never went far from the Cornucopia once the gong sounded. He actually just grabbed a bag of supplies and food and ran to a valley where he stayed until they announced the feast. He either learned a lot at the camouflage station, or he's incredibly talented at it, like Peeta is, because he camouflages himself into a crevice and goes unnoticed for days.

After he reaches the table where the feast is being held, he pulls out a vial that he received in a parachute from a sponsor. The announcers say that it appears to be a vile of poison, and we watch as Leon puts drops of the liquid on all the food in the sacks during the night. Each Tribute has a sack of food with their District number on it, but he decides to leave his there to make the Tributes think he's injured and can't get to the feast. Leon sneaks back to his hiding spot in the valley, and trusts his poison to kill off the rest of the Tributes before he dies of starvation. He re-camouflages himself while he waits to hear the booms of the canon. The Careers are the first to go, followed by the boy from 5, and the girl from 9.

It has now come down to Leon and the girl from 11 who grabbed her sack of food last and heard a canon after watching a Tribute eat something from his sack of food. She got suspicious and smelled the food before eating it and discovered a strange smell. Thinking that her food might not be safe to eat, she starts to search for food in the arena and finds a patch of berries in the valley where Leon is hiding. She starts eating them and seems fine, but a couple hours later she falls down to the ground, clutching her stomach. The screen splits to show the girl from 11 vomiting while the other half shows Leon pouring the last of the poison onto the berry patches in the valley before climbing back into his crevice. Boom! The girl from 11 dies, and Leon is the Victor.

**Workout Day 34, Wednesday: **

After breakfast and a two mile jog this morning, we settle right into finishing our bows. Well, at least I hope we'll be able to finish them today. By mid-morning we've thinned our best staves so that the handles fit our hands comfortably, and tied a string on to the ends to test that the limbs pull equally. We break a few strings along the way, but I feel confident they'll be ready today.

SNAP!

I turn to see what that loud noise was, and find Haymitch holding a split branch that used to be his bow.

"Oops," he says, but I can tell he doesn't really care.

"Haymitch!" I yell. "How could you be so careless? You know how long it takes to make these…" I walk over to him, and take his ruined bow. "How did you even do this? Did you pull it more than an inch?" I ask as I examine it. _Maybe I skipped an important step, or needed to find a better branch. Oh no…what if they don't even have trees in the arena?_

"What's wrong, Katniss" Peeta asks when he sees my eyes go wide and blank.

"What if they don't even have trees there? What if they choose not to leave weapons, _and_ there isn't even a way to make them?"

"Oh please," Haymitch starts. "There's no way there going to put twenty-four Victors in a Quarter Quell and give them no weapons. There's probably going to be no shortage of weapons."

"You really think so?" I ask.

"Look, we've watched…how many Games now?" Haymitch asks Peeta.

"Mm…I think we've gotten through thirteen so far."

_Thirteen? That's like as many as I remember watching in my lifetime before my Games. Now I've doubled that number? I feel sick…_

But I snap out of my reverie when I hear one of my favorite sounds in the world: geese squawking above me in a huge V formation. Haymitch is talking about weapons, but I can't concentrate.

"Ohh," I say in awe, looking up at the geese. "I'd love to take some down." I take my position, and aim my makeshift bow towards the sky. Well I guess now is as good a time as any to test my bow. I pull back the string to let the arrow fly, but something hits my bow just before I release.

It's Haymitch's hand of all things. "What are you doing?" I snip, and aim my arrow at the flock again before it's gone. But Haymitch knocks my bow a second time, so this time I aim at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't shoot at any animals," he barks. "Remember what happened last time you did that inside the District?"

I think back to when Gale and I went after the little rodents and almost got caught by the Peacekeeper. "That was just bad luck." I look around. No one's in sight. "It'll be quick, I promise. I just want to kill a couple of them."

Haymitch looks offended. "You wouldn't kill geese," he says, although it sounds more like he's trying to convince himself of that fact.

"I have before, lots of times."

"Hey, how come my family never got a goose?" Peeta chimes in.

I roll my eyes. "Geese have good meat, Haymitch."

"Not to mention their feathers would make a great pillow..." Peeta says quietly.

"They're more than good meat," he retorts. "And they're more than pillow stuffing," he says to Peeta.

"Huh?"I ask.

"They're beautiful creatures."

Peeta and I look at each other with huge eyes. "Did Haymitch just say the word 'beautiful?'" I ask, stunned.

"Yep, and it wasn't even about a bottle of alcohol," Peeta jokes.

"Ah," Haymitch gripes and walks away from us to go sit by the tree and work on a new bow.

"Haymitch!" I call out. "Wait, what do you mean they're beautiful creatures? Do you mean that there's actually something in Panem that you like? Besides alcohol of course."

He stares at me with disdain for a second, and then silently goes back to work on his bow.

Peeta nudges me to leave him be for a second, and we set up a target area instead so that we can practice shooting with our new bows. It turns into more of a lesson on how to hold a bow for Peeta, since he's never really done this before.

About an hour into target practice we hear Haymitch say, "Why don't you two get a room…" and he walks over to where we are.

"Ah, that's our old mentor," I joke.

Haymitch turns around to walk back to his spot under the tree, but I grab his arm and pull him to where we are. "I'm sorry, Haymitch. We'll play nice."

He rolls his eyes at me, and tries his hand at using a bow and arrow. It's kind of fun to watch the boys try my best fighting technique. I'll easy get an excellent score on this technique while both of them won't.

"So, you like geese, huh?" I asks Haymitch as casually as I can manage.

Haymitch sighs, but doesn't respond.

"Ah Haymitch, why don't you just tell us yes or no. Do you like geese?" Peeta asks.

He sighs again, and gives a strained "yes."

Peeta and I look at each other like we just won another Games because we finally cracked Haymitch. We're quiet for about fifteen minutes as we continue practicing with our bows. I keep my mouth shut until I can't take it anymore. "Did you have a goose?" I ask Haymitch.

"Why won't you both shut up about the geese. I already told you I liked them. Why are there more questions?"

I clear my throat and look at Peeta to see if he'll ask Haymitch, since Peeta gets more answers out of him about the geese. Probably because I just tried to kill his favorite animal.

"I always wanted a pet," Peeta says. "Mom didn't allow it. Did you have one, Haymitch?"

"Yes."

_Another victory. _I nod at Peeta to keep him talking.

"What was it?"

Haymitch rolls his eyes.

"Okay, I'm going to take a wild guess at what it was, but what did you call it?"

"I didn't give it a name."

"You didn't give your goose a name?" I laugh.

"I didn't know if it would make it," he replies. "It had a broken wing."

"Oh," I say quietly. "And you took care of it? That's…sweet."

"Yeah, yeah," he says dismissively.

I feel awkward that he was so vulnerable and now I don't know what to say, so what do I do-I say something stupid. "Maybe you and Peeta can get one someday."

As soon as I say it I feel their eyes on me, and realize Peeta could read that two ways: I'm not planning on coming back, or I'm joking about the two of them adopting a bird.

"Sorry, I guess that one wasn't funny," I shrug, and try to ignore Peeta's alarmed eyes and Haymitch staring daggers at me.

From that point on we don't say much else, and just focus on target practice for the rest of the afternoon. We finish with a light workout at the end of the day since we've spent a lot of time this week making bows and arrows.

After a delicious dinner of chicken, not goose, we start watching the 27th Hunger Games today, and Haymitch warned us that this Victor unfortunately followed in Leon's path-meaning they're both addicted to morphling, pretty badly too. As we start the Games, we realize that Morphling #2, whose real name is Mantis, intends to win by camouflaging herself just like her mentor did in the last Games.

However, the other Tributes are prepared for that trick, and the Career pack makes it their first mission to find her. When they find her, instead of killing her, they decide to leave her dangling from a tree with no way to conceal herself.

We fast forward and stop every time we see her struggling to free herself. Haymitch said that the Careers probably intended to leave her there until the end and make her their final kill-give her a taste of hope and take it away at the end. One time we see her pleading with her mentor, Leon, to send her a knife, but no parachute comes. She probably doesn't have any sponsors, or she lost them when the Career pack tied her up and left her to die.

Eventually, something inside her snaps, and she goes wild trying to free herself. She becomes so frantic that she ends up snapping the limb that's holding her up. When she lands, a smile spreads on her face. I sort of want to finish her Games, but it's nearly 11:00 so we decide to go to bed and finish her Games tomorrow night.

Haymitch leaves right away, and I get up to leave too, but Peeta grabs my hand and pulls me back down to the couch.

"Katniss I need to talk to you about something," he says. "What did you mean today, when you said that Haymitch and I could get a goose someday?"

I laugh, "I was just joking, Peeta. We were teasing Haymitch all day."

He stares into my eyes. "Is that true? You were just making a joke?" he asks seriously.

I nod my head, and he gives my hand a kiss. "Okay," he says quietly. "We should go to sleep."

He walks me to the door, and opens it for me. "Goodnight, Peeta," I say.

But he grabs my hand again, and pulls me into a hug. I can't deny it feels good to be in his arms again. It's been a long time since we've held each other like this, and he's one of a handful of people in my life that make me feel safer just by being close to them, Gale being at the top of that list. I don't feel like it's a romantic move to hug him back, so I give in and sink into his arms. We stand there like that for a few seconds. He breathes into my hair and pulls me tighter for a second before he lets go, and says "Goodnight, Katniss."

**Workout Day 35, Thursday: **

Gale's POV

I wake up to the sight of Rory standing in front of my bed with a huge grin on his face."Having a good dream, Gale?" Rory laughs.

"Huh" I mumble, still half in my dream.

"Sure seemed like it," he says. "Catnip. Ohh Catnip."

I groan, and he laughs even harder. "At first I thought you were dreaming that you were a cat chasing catnip...But then I remembered that's what you call Katniss, and then it all made sense."

At this point, I've had enough of Rory's teasing so I jump out of bed and tackle him so he'll learn to shut up.

"You can pin me all you want, it doesn't change the fact that were dreaming about Katniss."

I punch his arm, "Shut up, Rory."

"Ooh, am I getting under your skin Gale? He pauses, and then chuckles. "Or is that what you want to do to Ka-"

I lock his neck in a head lock so he can't finish his sentence, and wait until he taps out twice to let him free. That'll teach him.

"Jeez, Gale, it was just a joke. Lighten up."

"Lighten up? She's leaving in two months. She might not be coming back this time!"

Rory goes quiet and looks at the ground. He swallows, "I know. I'm sorry."

I hear a knock at the front door, so I go to open it and find Peeta outside. "What do you want?" I practically snarl. It's strange to hear your own animosity, and know that you couldn't stop the venom in your words even if you tried.

"Woah, good morning to you too."

I sigh, "Sorry. My brother's being a pain in the ass this morning."

"Oh. That's why I moved out," he laughs humorlessly.

_Are we bonding? That's a little awkward…_

I don't know what to say next, since he obviously moved out because of the Capitol, so I change the subject. "So, why are you here?" But suddenly I'm struck with a horrible thought. "Is Katniss okay?"

"Yeah, she's gr..fine. I've actually got a favor to ask you." All of the sudden he seems uncomfortable, which is a strange look on him.

"A favor, huh? What is it?"

He pauses and looks at the ground.

"Jeez, what kind of favor is this?" I laugh, and rub the back of my neck.

His eyes flash up for a second, and I see something that looks like a mix of anguish and uncertainty.

He sighs, "I think Katniss believes I'm coming home. Just me and Haymitch." He watches my expression, probably wondering if this is news to me too.

I'm speechless for a while. What do you say to the one person who you know has to die to bring home your loved one? And what do you say when you find out it's all going backwards?

He interrupts my thoughts, "I want her to come home. She will come home. We're making sure of it."

I pause, trying to weed out what he's about to say next. "What are you telling me this for?"

"Because you can help."

"I thought I was? What about snare lessons?"

"Those help, but…it's clearly not going to be enough if this is her plan."

"Are you sure that's her intention?" I ask.

"Not a hundred percent, but I've been thinking it for a while," he says. "Little things she says and does…but I think she gave herself away yesterday."

"Alright, what's your idea?"

"I need to take your picture," he says to my surprise.

"What?" I sputter. _How could a picture help? _

"She needs to keep focused on herself, and the people she would leave behind."

He sees the shock and remorse in my eyes, and I see the turmoil and sadness in his. Neither of us are in a good position; heck were both in the worst possible situation when it comes to Katniss.

I look back at him, and try to guess how he plans to keep her focused on those things with a picture. I mean, they can't take personal belongings in with them.

"I know how to get a picture inside the Games," he says confidently. "I'll give it to her then."

_I was right. He's determined to get reaped._

"I'm not a fool," Peeta says when he realizes I'm at a loss for his plan. "I know she loves you...Even if she hasn't admitted it to you, or herself. She needs you, and you need her, although I'm pretty sure you're not blind to that like she is."

"My family doesn't rely on me," he continues. "No one needs me to be alive so that they can keep living. Katniss' mom and sister...they do need her in that way, and in so many other ways. And I'd bet that you do too."

_Well that's true…_

"Still…how does a picture help?"

"You'll see, but you absolutely can't tell her anything about it."

"Just one photo?"

"Yes, I'll bring a camera by tomorrow morning and take the photo. I have to send it off to the Capitol to get sized and developed."

"Why not take it now?" I ask, pointing to the camera in his hand.

"Well…" he looks at my hair, and laughs, "You might want to look your best for this photo."

I ruffle my hair, and realize I probably do have bed head. "Okay, tomorrow morning then."

"So, you're in?" he asks.

"Yes, of course, but...are you sure you don't want to trade me for it?"

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Well, you're going to lose the bet," I smile. "When you lose, I don't want you to say that you didn't have all the opportunities that you should have had…This is your opportunity to lower the stakes, or trade a picture for a trap."

Peeta starts walking away, but turns around after a couple steps with a playful smirk. "Sure you're gonna win?"

"I'll win." _It's not a game to me._

After he leaves, it sinks in that for the last month she has been working so hard…so that she could save _Peeta_, not herself. I really did believe that she was training for herself, maybe for her and Peeta, since everyone from the District knows that Peeta plans to go in with her. I thought she would try to get out this time, maybe not for me, maybe not even for Prim this year, but maybe for the country-for a rebellion. _How can this be happening?_

Katniss' POV

After a hard workout this morning, we start to test out our skills with our bows since they're now strung, oiled, and dried properly. At this point they shouldn't splinter or break, but this will be the true test. I haven't made one in years, and I've never taught anyone to make them before. I'd like to see if we made them correctly.

Gale shows up in the middle of target practice this afternoon because there was a rock slide in the mine. They had to shut down production for the rest of the day until they can get the rubble cleared and the safety of the mining tunnels approved.

"Where'd you get these?" Gale asks, looking in awe at our bows, especially mine.

"Katniss taught us how to make them," Peeta says proudly.

"They're not as good as my dad's," I say as I pluck my bow string.

"Katniss, don't be upset with these bows. You never really got the chance to learn how to make one, and these turned out incredible," he says as he admires my bow. He tries out an arrow and says, "It works."

"I know," I say. "Its just I know he taught me more about how to make them, and...I can't remember all the things he said to do." My face must look pretty lost, because Gale mirrors that expression for a moment before it eases away into an easy smile.

"You're better at making bows than I am," he says trying to cheer me up.

"Well that's not hard." I say matter-of-factly.

"Burn" I hear slithering out of Haymitch's lips.

Gale looks over at him, and down at the bow in his hands. "At least mine are better than yours, Haymitch."

"Well if that's true why don't you try teaching us some tricks? Katniss is a crappy teacher."

"Hey!" I defend myself.

Peeta laughs, and I shoot him a dirty look.

"There's nothing I can teach you," Gale says. "You've got the best teacher in the District. Besides, your bows all look like they work, even Haymitch's," Gale says with a laugh.

We practice with our bows, and Gale helps me teach the boys proper form until we decide we're hungry. I convince Gale to stay for dinner and he ends up staying through the rest of Mantis' Games as well. When we left off last night she had just broken free from the rope. She massages her ankle for a while, and Peeta starts to fast forward, thinking nothing's going to happen, but Haymitch says, "Don't. Play it."

Peeta looks at him in surprise, but plays it anyway. She gets a parachute from a sponsor with four strands of rope, which she looks surprised to see. A few minutes later her face brightens and she goes to work tying rope to limbs in different trees with a loop at the bottom, similar to the way she was tied up. After a while there are four new ropes hanging in nearby trees, and she proceeds to set up some snares next to the trees with twine that she found at the Cornucopia. After that she camouflages herself and hides nearby.

I have no idea what she hopes to achieve with the ropes set up in the trees, but I'm thinking it worked since she's the Victor. By this point the only Tributes left are the ones in the Career pack, which consist of the girl from District 1 and the boy from District 2. Muttations drive them towards Mantis and they look puzzled when they find that Mantis isn't trapped anymore. They know she hasn't died yet, and they figure she must be nearby because of the ropes all around. The Careers start asking each other if Mantis has gone insane when they analyze why she would tie ropes in the trees. They start looking in the trees for her, and then all of the sudden the girl from 1 gets snared and struggles to get free.

The boy from 2 sees that as an opportunity, so he sticks her with his sword and waits for the canon. After the boom, Mantis pops out from behind a bush and the boy from 2 runs after her, thinking his last kill will be easy. He only gets ten feet before he gets tangled in a snare and in his surprise he drops his sword. Mantis sprints for the sword and slashes him in the stomach. She's clumsy with the sword, so he doesn't die with the first blow, so she sticks it into his chest and prays for a boom, which follows in a couple seconds.

After we say goodnight, Gale walks me to my room like he always does when he stays through the Games, and if I expected another massage or maybe him just seeing me to my room I was wrong. As soon as he shuts the door to my room, he sweeps me into the deepest kiss we've ever had. I've only kissed him and Peeta, but I think I'm starting to know when there's meaning behind it, because this one definitely does, and I'm wondering what he's thinking. When it ends I'm speechless, and so is he. He pulls my body into his and gently holds my head into his chest. I can't say I don't like it, and I won't deny that it's the best kiss I've ever had. But I don't know what it means for him, until he says, "Is it true that you don't want to come back?" I feel his chest tightening up, and I feel his heart beating faster.

I'm at a loss for words for a moment. I haven't said I plan to come home, but I also haven't said I don't plan to come home. _Where is he getting this from?_

"No, I want to come back, Gale," I say, hoping that will be enough.

"Are you trying to bring him home?"

"He's doing the same," I finally say. His whole body sinks, and I feel like gravity is pushing me down harder as well.

"Why?" he asks. A simple question, with a complicated answer.

"Why would it be me?" I say, as if it's as simple as that. Haymitch chose me last year. This year he's choosing Peeta."

"That's not a good enough reason," he says.

"Gale, he will…" I stop mid-sentence when I remember where we are…in my house, my bugged, Capitol house. I drag him downstairs and outside twenty feet away from Victor's Village before I start talking again. "He will be the voice of the rebellion. He's the only one who can do that. That's the most powerful tool to have on your side."

"No, Katniss-"

"You want the rebellion to happen" I interrupt him. "I know you do, more than anything else, that's what you want. And I can't give you what you need."

"I don't need you to do anything for me. I don't want Mellark to die, but I couldn't bear it if you did. I need you to live, and so does Prim and your mom too…And what would all your cousins do without you?" he tries to make a joke at the end, but his voice breaks and it just ends up making me feel guilty about my decision to save Peeta.

I want to tell him that I don't know what will happen, that we won't know the outcome until the Games end, because I've seen this look on his face before, and it's gleaming with thoughts of rebellion and anger. I want to tell him I'm coming back so he doesn't do anything rash in the District, but I also don't want to give him false hope.

"Katniss, the rebellion has to start somewhere, and it doesn't have to be in the arena," he says. "It has to start with a large group, and it doesn't have to be the Victors."

I see where he's going. I knew it was on his mind, and it's not a good option. If he goes down that road before the District's ready there will be thousands of deaths, and his will be likely. I feel like he's waiting on my go ahead, but I won't be the one making that decision. "No, Gale. No," I say firmly but quietly because you never know who's listening. "Haymitch said the District is not ready. It's not time. We're doing what we can through this Quell. I'm doing what I can…and I know that means something to you. That's all we can do."

"No, it's not-"

"Yes, it is," I interject. "Please, don't do anything," I plead.

Gale sees the guilt and the dread on my face, and he knows that's what I'm feeling, so he pulls me in for another embrace. I feel guilty for leaving him alone, but I also told him that I want to come home, and it makes me feel even worse because now I'm fraying two ends and I don't know where to go from here.

And since I don't know what this means for me, I pull away and head back to my room. He follows me there, and his words stop me. "If you're not coming back, at least stay here for a little longer," he says and pulls me gently into his chest. I feel a slight tremble run through his body. It's hardly detectable, but it's there, and I feel it because I know him. I know the way his body moves, and I'm starting to know the way it feels too. And of all the things I'm giving up, this one is going to be the hardest.

"Okay," I say. His chest goes tight, and I know he's struggling inside to hold it all together, and so am I. When he kisses me again, I feel the tear that I knew was there, and he feels mine. I say "Please?" and he nods his head. He lets me go and gives me a final kiss before turning to go home.

**Workout Day 36, Friday:**

Peeta's POV

"G'morning. Are you ready?" I ask and hold up the camera Effie overnighted me. "Have you made it to beauty base zero?"

"What?" he shakes his head. "Mellark, sometimes I don't get you…"

"Sorry, Katniss would've understood," he says, shaking his head too. "Just forget about it." I look at his face, and I notice that he looks a bit rough this morning. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says gruffly.

"No you're not," I say. His eyes are swollen and his face is pale.

"I'm fine, just take the pictures."

I raise my eyebrows, but take a photo anyways. I don't feel like getting barked again. "Not much for modeling, huh?" I say, when it's clear that he's incredibly uncomfortable.

"No," Gale says with disdain. "But I'll do it for her."

"Alright, ready?"

"Yeah."

"1..2..3.." Flash.

"Alright, I'm off to work now."

"Wait…" I say, and take a look at the photo since it shows up on the screen immediately.

"It's not a good picture?"

"No, it's not. I can't use this one. Look."

He peeks at the screen, scrunches his eyes, and asks, "What's wrong with it?"

"You're not smiling."

"I have to smile, Mellark?"

"Well, yeah. Do you honestly want her to see this picture in the Games?"

He throws his arms up in the air and says, "I don't see anything wrong with it."

"You don't? Well...just let me take another, and this time, please smile."

"Fine," he says, and gives me a big, cheesy smile.

"1..2..3.." Flash.

I look at the new picture, and shake my head. "Nope, no good. I can't use this either. Jeez you wouldn't think Gale Hawthorne would be a bad picture taker."

"What was that?" he asks me, clearly offended.

"Nothing. One more time."

He sighs and smiles again, but this time it's a half-smile that looks like he'd rather punch the person he's looking at. _Probably true._

"1..2..3.." Flash.

I sigh loudly when I look at the new picture. "Gale, look at this. Do you want Katniss seeing this photo?"

He looks at the picture, and sighs "No. But I don't know what you want from me! You want me to smile, but you keep saying the pictures where I'm smiling are no good. What do you want me to do?"

"Look, Katniss isn't going to see you in there, and I'm hoping that when she sees this picture, she'll realize how much she wants to come home. I know she does as well as you do. She just thinks I should be the one to come out this time."

"Why?" he asks, and then looks ashamed for asking.

"I don't know!" I cry out.

"Look man, it's okay. This is just…a bad situation…for all of us," he pauses, looking off in the distance. "So you're going to give this to her in the middle of the Games then?"

"Yeah…" I ruffle my hair and sigh. "If I make it that far."

"You will," he pauses, and his face gets all serious. "I hope you do."

"Really?" I'm surprised that he would even hope for me to make it a day into the Games.

"Yeah," he nods his head.

"Ah jeez, I don't have to convince you too, do I?" I ask.

"Oh, no, no…I still want her to come home. No offense," he says while scratching his neck.

"Well, try this. Think of how happy you'll be when you see her after the Games."

A real smile finally graces his face, and at last it doesn't look ridiculous or fake, even though his baggy eyes are noticeable. "1..2..3.." Flash. "There we go," I say. "Look at this one."

He looks at the picture and agrees that it's a good one, so we decide the photo session was successful…I walk back to my house and look at the photos and decide to go back tomorrow, and hopefully his face won't look so traumatized. I need a better photo.

Katniss' POV

At night we begin the 29th Games, and it's so boring that Peeta decides to fast forward until we see Ruby, the Victor, on the screen. She's from District 1, and surprisingly she just gathered supplies during the bloodbath. After five days in, we agree that she must have waited until the end to make her move since we haven't seen her fight anyone yet, even though she joined the Career pack.

We watch her make camp with the other Careers. She sets out her sleeping bag and falls asleep with the others while the girl from District 2 settles down to keep watch. There are only two more tributes outside of the Career pack, but for some reason they seem to expect an attack on their group. We fast forward as she keeps watch for a few hours. All of the sudden we see the announcers and Peeta pushes play to see what's going on. The camera is on Ruby, and she barely moves, so I keep thinking Peeta accidentally paused the Games. I hear Haymitch's breathing get louder and smirk when I realize he's fallen asleep.

All of the sudden we see her unsheathe the sword she's hiding and look at her Career companions. She stands up and stabs the girl from 2, followed by the rest of them while they're still sleeping until the final boom sounds and all the Careers are dead.

We fast forward to the next fight between her and the Tribute from 3, which she ends quickly with her fencing skills. We fast forward for a long while after that because a full two days pass and she can't track down the boy from 10. Cat muttations drive them together after the Gamemakers have had enough of their wandering, but the boy from 10 flees as soon as he sees Ruby. She's fast though, so she catches up to him and throws a knife at his back. He falls down, but no cannon sounds. So she plunges her sword through his chest and waits for the final boom.

**Workout Day 37, Saturday: **

Peeta's POV

"You're back?" Gale says displeased, as he opens the door and finds me back with my camera.

"No offense, but your looks took a major hit yesterday," I say as I get my camera ready for photo session number two.

"Whatever," Gale says. "Let's just get this over with."

I take about ten pictures this time, just in case, since his face is now looking like he didn't just wake up from a nightmare. I get him to smile normally again, and I feel like I've finally got what I need. Then I make my way back to my house to hide the camera and go to breakfast at the Everdeen's.

Katniss' POV

Today at breakfast Peeta says he has an idea for today, but that we might not be on board with it right away. Haymitch and I look at each other and say, "Oh brother," in unison, but Peeta assures us that it'll be good practice, and that I, specifically, might enjoy it. When we leave my house, Peeta makes us go back to his house to pick something up, but when Haymitch and I see him walk out of his house with life-size cardboard cutouts of each of us our eyes go wide, and we silently wonder if Peeta has gone mad.

"We're going to practice throwing knives," he says as he carries "us" to the meadow. Haymitch and I follow behind at a distance. _Maybe Peeta has lost it._ We get a lot of strange looks along the way, but Peeta could care less.

"We've already practiced throwing knives," Haymitch gripes. "And do these really have to be our targets?" he looks disturbed.

"Yeah, well we need to keep doing it because you still can't hit anything more than five feet in front of you," Peeta says.

When we get to the meadow Peeta sets out our cardboard cut outs that are exact replicas of ourselves, and he says we'll each choose one to use.

"Why did you get _us_?" Haymitch asks, dismayed that we will be killing off our own cutouts today. It's amazing how much they really look like us. They must have taken a photo of us during the Games and blown it up to a life-size dimensions. Haymitch's photo came from his mentoring in the Capitol because he's dressed up, and that doesn't happen while he's here.

"I tried," he says with agitation, "but Effie kept sending me more of us. I told her I wanted cutouts of the other Victors, but she said 'That just didn't make sense to me. These are more appropriate.'"

"Trinket.." Haymitch gripes.

"You should see how many of these I have at home," Peeta says. "I feel like a creep." He wrinkles his face in disgust.

"I choose Haymitch!" I call out surprising them all.

Haymitch looks at me, stunned silent for a moment. "Then I call Katniss," Haymitch says in defiance.

"No, no, that won't work," Peeta says. "I'm not throwing knives at myself."

"Fine, how do we decide then?" I ask.

"Katniss gets to choose first," he says, to which Haymitch grunts knowing she'll pick him again. "Because she's a lady," Peeta explains to Haymitch. I do indeed pick Haymitch, Haymitch picks Peeta, and to Peeta's dismay he gets stuck with the cutout of me.

After about an hour, we take a break, and then switch cutouts. I take Peeta, Haymitch takes me, and Peeta takes Haymitch.

"Peeta, I think you need more practice," Haymitch says.

"Why?" Peeta asks.

"You didn't even hit Katniss," he replies. "Look, the knife landed outside of her picture every single time." Peeta raises an eyebrow at him. Haymitch nods and says, "She wouldn't be offended you know. It's not like you're actually throwing a knife at her."

"I nailed Peeta! " I shout victoriously, after my first throw lands straight in his heart.

Haymitch laughs and laughs, until I throw a rock at his head and he decides to shut up.

We throw knives until we get bored, and then move on to other fighting techniques until we get hungry. When we finally make it through dinner, Haymitch leans back in his chair and says, "Ive got the pregnant belly look right now," while patting his full belly.

"Hey, so if we can't call you little Mitch, can we call you big Mitch?" Peeta teases. I go one step further and mimic his protruding beer belly. Peeta and I laugh when Haymitch glares at us and says, "no."

Tonight we begin the 30th Hunger Games, and the Victor is Shelton Dane, from District 4. The Tributes from 4 paired up but didn't join the other Careers. They were absolutely lethal, and were responsible for taking out half of the Tributes.

Shelton and her partner take out the Careers when they stumble upon each other in the middle of the night. The other Careers were hunting at night, but they made so much noise that Shelton and her partner were prepared for them. With the Careers and all the rest of the Tributes gone, Shelton and her partner nod to each other and go their separate ways.

"What are they doing?" I ask Haymitch.

"Making a mistake," he says.

They wander for a while with the weapons ready to go at a moment's notice, but they clearly don't plan on fighting each other, so they must be waiting on the Capitol to send muttations. They must have decided that the mutts will kill one of them, and the best one will win. But the Capitol surprises them and sends out four mutts for each of them, all of different kinds too. One is a bird-like creature, the other tunnels under the ground, the third is a huge insect, and the last one looks like a giant wolf. Shelton and her partner both look at the mutts and realize they probably should have just fought each other, but it's too late for that.

The mutts pick them apart, sort of like what happened to Cato last year, but Shelton is a fighter and she keeps injuring the mutts even though she's getting pretty torn up. The boy isn't so lucky. He's a good fighter as well, but the wolf gets hold of his arm and yanks it clear off. At that point, he gives up and the mutts rip into him until the canon booms. Shelton wins, but she looks like she could pass away at any point. Haymitch tells us that she was in a coma for a full week before she woke up, and it took another week for her to be camera ready. I shudder at the thought of getting picked apart by mutts like that. I wonder if that's in store for me.

**AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for your patience with this story. **

To my anonymous reviewers:

guest: You always inspire me to write Gale into more scenes throughout the week :) Also, THANK YOU!

Me: Thank you for your review. I have a whole lot more written!


	8. Buttercup

Chapter 7: Buttercup

**AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter: Pink love 21, GlassHeart1993-thank you for both reviews :), I-am-a-Firefly, moonlight goose, ShortySC22, Mooglez, To be a rebel, Jerry Side, Ellenka, and Extreme Wanderlust! I loved your reviews, and I always appreciate your feedback :) Thank you also to everyone who put this on alert or favorited the story!**

**Workout Day 38, Sunday:**

Peeta, Haymitch, and I make it to the meadow, and instead of surprising me, Gale surprises all three of us.

"Today we're going to do something a little different than normal," Gale says.

"Well thank goodness because making traps all Sunday is very dull," Haymitch says, already bored.

Gale rolls his eyes, but continues, "We're going to have a high pressure trap situation today. I've scattered some materials so that they're arranged the way you'd find them in the wild. You're going to have to make as many snares as you can in twenty minutes. That will test your skill level and your memory at the same time."

"Okay, that actually sounds like a good plan," Peeta says, authorizing this activity.

"No, it doesn't," Haymitch interrupts. Why are we having a competition?"

"Think of it more as a test of your snare knowledge in a fast-paced 'simulation,'" Gale says.

Haymitch grumbles, and Gale just shakes his head. Gale looks at his watch and says, "Alright, you'll have twenty minutes in 5…4…3…2…1. Go!"

We all scramble to gather as many materials as we can, well I guess "we" just describes me and Peeta. Haymitch is off to the side picking up a stick here and there. He grabs a piece of rope, and plops himself down on the ground to fumble his way through a snare.

After the twenty minutes are up, I've made one twitch up snare, two deadfall traps, and one Apache foothold trap. Peeta has made one twitch up snare and three deadfall traps. I have to guess that he doesn't remember the other ones very well, since the deadfall trap was the snare we learned last Sunday. And Haymitch is in the lead for last place.…He tied a bunch of little branches into one long branch, whittled the end to a point, and is now using it to jab me while Gale inspects our snares.

"Well I can see who the loser is…" Gale says, and then eyes Haymitch.

Haymitch huffs like he couldn't care less, and we all chuckle at his traps…well single trap…stick? Whatever it is, it couldn't catch anything.

"So, let's take a look at your guys' snares," Gale says, analyzing Peeta's first. He tests them out. "These are definitely well-built," he pauses to test the triggers on each of them with some small branches. They snap into place exactly like they should. "And they're definitely functional," he says and gives Peeta a nod of approval. "Alright Katniss, it looks like you've got competition. Now let's see yours."

He walks over to my snares, inspects them for quality, and then tests them like he did with Peeta's. "Yours are also well built and functional, so quantity is going to beat quality here. Katniss is definitely the winner," he says with a big, proud grin.

"What?" Peeta cries out, clearly in disagreement. "We both have four snares, Hawthorne."

"Yes," Gale draws out, "but do you have an Apache foothold?"

"No," he replies.

"Then Katniss is the winner," he says as if it's obvious why I won.

"How does that make sense?" Peeta asks. A fair question, but I already know what Gale's answer will be.

"Because most of your traps are from last week's lesson. You clearly forgot how to make most of the ones I taught you so far. You made the twitch up, which is incredibly simple, and you made three of the most recent snares. She made an Apache foothold in addition. That's a hard snare!" he says exasperated. "And very effective," he says to me with a wink.

I smile smugly and Peeta shakes his head at me with a small smile. He knows it's a logical argument, but he also knows that I would have won with Haymitch's pathetic stick.

"Alright, now since you all had made your own bows last week I thought I would teach you the deadly bow trap," Gale says. "But since you," he points at Haymitch, "and you," he points at Peeta, "have forgotten so many snares, we're going to revisit all of the previous lessons first. The deadly bow trap isn't a snare you want to mess around with, and I won't have anyone getting hurt," he glances up at me, "because of poor technique. Now, let's start with me teaching you the simple snare, and then we'll work our way through the rest of them."

"I don't remember all of them," Haymitch says, and I can tell he couldn't care less that he has to relearn them.

"You don't remember any of them," Gale says as he examines the "snare" that put Haymitch in last place in the competition. "Alright grab a sturdy stick-"

"A stiff stick?" Haymitch jokes.

"A sturdy stick," Gale says, gritting his teeth. I know Haymitch gets on his nerves, but today I feel is worse than normal, so I step in.

"Why are you making jokes?" I ask Haymitch. "You're the reason we have to redo all our lessons."

He huffs at me, but stays quiet while Gale teaches us the simple snare. This is by far the easiest of the snares, and we technically already learned it in our first lesson, but Gale didn't have us practice it so it's new to us, well Haymitch and Peeta. The basics are to tie a noose to a stick and wait for prey to get trapped. I used some of the snares Gale's teaching us in my last Games, so I don't intend to use these particular ones again. If I'm studying my enemies they're probably studying me, and I need to make sure I use different traps.

After we've practiced the simple snare until we can do it with our eyes closed, Gale moves us on to the twitch-up snare, the drag noose, the Apache foothold snare, and the deadfall trap.

"Catnip, I need a volunteer," Gale says. He uses me to demonstrate the Apache foothold trap, and when my foot is caught in the noose end of the rope he encircles me with the rope and comes closer to me.

"That's 1 for today," he says to Peeta with a smirk. "You really are one of a kind, Catnip," he laughs.

"Yeah, she is. So stop treating her like other girls."

"Mellark, why don't you frost my..."

"Gale!" I cut him off.

I settle the boys down, and Haymitch sits with his back against the tree laughing at the three of us. Peeta and I go back to tying snares, and Gale helps me with mine, but ignores all the mistakes Peeta is making out of irritation with him.

"There's something wrong with my snare," Peeta says, hoping that Gale will help him fix it. He looks at him, but Gale doesn't look back. He just keeps his focus on me and my snare. "Are you going to help me at some point?" he asks Gale.

"No," Gale says.

Peeta huffs, "Can I ask why not?"

"No."

"What do you have against me?" Peeta asks, and it's evident that he's about to lose his temper soon.

Gale looks at him and says, "I'm just treating you like the other girls."

My eyebrows raise in surprise, and Haymitch cracks up laughing at the whole scene. Peeta looks back at him angrily, but doesn't respond back. He just sets his mind to undoing his snare, and trying again. His movements are quick and concise.

"There you go," Gale compliments his snare tying style. "That looks much better. You've been too _nice_ while tying your snares. Dig into that anger that we all know is inside of you."

"What?" Peeta asks.

"You've been setting traps like you're already regretting them. That just makes for a poor job of concealing them. You won't catch anything while it knows the trap is there," he says. Peeta looks at him like this is the most bizarre thing he's ever heard. "Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but I caught more food by actively forgetting that I was ending the life of an animal with this stuff," Gale says holding up the twine and sticks.

"You all need to remember that when you're there," Gale says. "Those people won't be your friends," he says glancing at Haymitch. "They won't be your allies," he says holding my hand. "And they can't survive, if you want to," he says looking over at Peeta.

We fall into silence and think about his words. They're true, but I still hate them. I hate that we have to think this way or die. I hate that the Capitol has all of us twisted into their violent mind games.

No one says anything more for a long time. We just keep tying snares, because what else can we do? We've been in the Capitols' snares for long enough, and maybe its time to set traps for them. Gale's words rekindle the hope inside of me that maybe something wonderful will come from the death of the Victors. The only question is how? My life will end, but Peeta will live on. He will declare a new era. People will listen to him, and maybe they'll have a shot that way. Every revolution needs a voice of reason, and his is a voice I trust.

The silence is putting us on edge more than we already are while thinking about Gale's words, so when the light of day starts vanishing we don't even ask each other if it's time to pack up. We throw everything into a box and head to the Victor's Village.

During the walk back home, a girl from the class ahead of me walks up to Gale and starts chatting his ear off about how all the girls at school miss him now that he works in the mines. I try to ignore it like Gale does, but I don't feel very successful at hiding my irritation, even after she walks away. He notices my frustrated expression, he always does, and gives my shoulder a playful nudge, trying to coax a smile out of me.

"Are you jealous?" he whispers in my ear.

I shove him to show him I'm not, but he laughs, so he probably thinks that I am.

"Don't worry. I can't stand Lyndsey, never could," he whispers again.

I look at him like I couldn't care less about Lyndsey and if she likes Gale.

"You know this is partly your fault," he says into my ear.

He's smiling, and I don't know what he's talking about. "What?"

He nods towards Peeta, and then I get it. I've got an image to maintain with Peeta, and he'd like to be the star-crossed lovers in public.

When we reach my house, the boys walk in but Gale keeps me outside to talk. "I would though," he says.

"You would what?"

"I would hold your hand...if you wanted," he says, and I sigh. "I would put my arm around you. I would do anything you wanted, anything you felt comfortable with." And I believe him because he looks like he wants to do those things right now. And I silently wonder what "anything" entails.

But Prim swings the door open and calls out that dinner is ready, so we go inside, and I hear Gale sigh softly after he shuts the door. I sit at the dining room table, but realize that Gale is absent, and so is Peeta. _That's strange._

Gale's POV

Someone taps my shoulder after I turn to follow Katniss to the dining room, and I realize that Peeta is waiting to talk to me about something. I figure it must be important if he doesn't want the others to hear, so I follow him into the drawing room and quickly ask him what's going on.

"You remember how I took your picture?" Peeta says quietly.

"Yes…" I say cautiously. _If I have to take one more photo…_

"Well, I also need to take a photo of Prim and Katniss' mom, and I was hoping I could do that tonight while we're watching the Games. I'll slip out while the tape is rolling, but I was hoping you could make sure that Katniss doesn't come over here while I'm taking the picture."

"Sure, I can do that. But you don't need another of me, right?"

"No, I got a good one of you."

I sigh in relief. "Good, because if I had to take one more…"

"Yeah, yeah, frost my…'"

Knock, knock, knock. Katniss opens the door, and furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you guys doing? Dinner's ready."

"Okay," I say, and start walking towards her. "We were just talking about the rules of the bet. Peeta's losing and he's trying to change the rules."

"Oh, okay." Katniss shrugs like we are the strangest guys she knows, and we all start walking to the dining room. But before I go through the door, Peeta kicks the heel of my boot, and I trip.

I look back at him and raise my eyebrows, to which he just shrugs and says, "No rule against that. Is there?" with a smug smile.

Katniss' POV

After dinner we head over to Peeta's, and he starts bringing us cookies and milk, but then we hear him muttering in the kitchen. He comes back out with a bag and says, "I'm out of flour. I'm going to go into town to get some for tomorrow morning. I'll be back soon, but you should start without me."

"You're going to miss the bloodbath?" I ask, shocked that he would leave during such a crucial moment. Plus I don't want to take notes because I'm sure that they won't be good enough.

"Yeah, I've got to go before the store closes. Last week I tried to get flour from my family's bakery, but my mom got sort of mad."

I frown at the mention of his mother. "Well, we might have some, do you want to check at my house?" I ask.

"No, I don't want to owe your mom anymore. She already makes me two meals a day."

I press my lips together. "Okay, well, just don't take too long." I've never watched the Games without him since we've becomes Victors, and there's something comforting in his approach to watching them, something that makes it less agonizing. It's more of a study and less of a punishment.

Peeta looks at me with a puzzled expression. "I won't, don't worry. I'll be back before you even realize I'm gone."

"But I realize it now?" I tease him.

He laughs softly, and says, "Then I'll be back before Haymitch realizes I'm gone."

"Huh?" Haymitch says without looking up when he hears his name. He's eating his cookies, so he'll be pretty content until they're all gone.

Peeta leaves, and we settle into our seats with a cookie in hand. I scarf mine down before we push play. I won't be able to eat anything after the Games start. We watched the 29th Games last night, so we move on to the 30th Hunger Games.

Peeta's POV

_Did she not want me to leave tonight? It seemed like it...No that can't be it. She probably just didn't want to take notes for me. Yeah, that's what it was._

I knock on the Everdeen's door, and Prim answers it meekly.

"Hi Peeta. What are you doing here?" But then her face goes pale and she asks, "Is Katniss okay?"

I nod quickly. "Yeah she's fine. I've got a favor to ask of you and your mom."

"A favor?" she asks. It's no wonder why Katniss never says no to her. She could swindle a thief with that sweet tone of her voice.

I'm about to explain why I'm here, but Mrs. Everdeen comes to the door. "Peeta, what are you doing back so soon? Are you still hungry?" she asks with a smile.

"No, I couldn't fit another bite," I say and pat my stomach. "But thank you. I've actually got a favor to ask you and Prim." She invites me in, and we go sit down in the living room.

"I need to take your picture," I say, and unlike Gale they don't object, but they are curious as to the reason.

Prim asks, "What are you going to use the picture for?"

I can't bear to tell them the real reason, especially Prim. Maybe I should, so they're prepared, but I also feel like it's not for me to say. I know that Prim would be devastated if she found out that Katniss doesn't plan to come home to her again. I don't know how her mom would react, but I can tell that she does love Katniss.

"I'm giving her a present," I say. They look at each other and smile like schoolgirls.

"Why not give her a painting instead?" Prim asks with big eyes suggesting she wants a painting herself. "Yours are beautiful."

I laugh softly. "She hates my paintings," I try to smile for Prim, but it falls short.

"She does?" Prim looks alarmed.

"Yes, that's okay though. The ones she saw were of the Games."

"Do you have other ones?" Prim asks eagerly.

"Yes, would you like to see them sometime?" I ask. "If that's okay with you," I tell Mrs. Everdeen who nods that it's okay with her.

Prim squeaks with glee and nods her head quickly. "Can I see them tonight?"

_If she sees them tonight Katniss will know I saw Prim, because why would Prim come to see my painting out of the blue...She'll know I lied and want to know why. _"Mmm, not tonight," I say, and it's actually painful to see the sadness in Prim's eyes. _Yep, it's no wonder why Prim is the light of Katniss' life. _"But how about you come see them tomorrow morning before breakfast."

"Okay," she says sweetly. She and her mom sit together and smile while I take about ten photos. They don't need smiling lessons like Gale did, so this is an easy photo session for me. I'm glad it's not taking too long because then my "flour shopping trip" wouldn't be plausible to Katniss. I thank the Everdeen ladies for the photos, put the camera in my bag, and pull out a bag of flour for the trip back to my house.

"Why do you have a bag of flour?" Prim asks like I'm crazy.

"I told your sister I went on a flour run," I say.

Both of them start to laugh because they know that Katniss is naive and will believe that story, and I'm glad for it. I don't want Katniss finding out about the photos until I give it to her. I think she still thinks that I believe she plans to be this year's Victor.

Prim walks me to the door, and says, "Goodbye, Peeta. I'll see you tomorrow!" she yells excitedly, and I really hope Katniss didn't hear her. I know Prim will keep a secret, but I don't want her to alert Katniss as to where I just was.

Katniss' POV

Peeta gets back after fifteen Tributes have passed away, and I hand him his notebook and the remote so he can fast forward at will. The Victor from the 30th Games is from District 1, and his name is Garnet Tam. He's another Career, so I have a feeling that plays a big part into him winning his Games. He's probably pretty old now, so I almost feel like zoning out, especially with Gale sitting beside me.

After we finish the Games for the night, Gale walks me to my bedroom. This has become customary for us on Sunday nights, or really any night that Gale comes to see me.

"What do you think I am, a caterpillar?" I say when he starts tucking the covers in around me. "I feel like I"m in a cocoon." I laugh, which makes him laugh too, but I shush him so he doesn't wake up my mom or Prim.

"It's less than two months," I say after we settle into a comfortable silence. From where he's sitting on the bed I can see his face because the moonlight is hitting it.

He nods his head. "It's not going to be enough time," he says, lightly brushing the hair out of my face.

We don't say anything for a while, but I break the silence first. "Did you really mean what you said - before the last Games?" I ask hesitantly. I've been wondering that since he said it, but a good time never came up for me to ask him. Now seems as good as ever.

"What-the part where they yanked me out of the room, or before that?"

"Both, I guess. But did you really believe it's no different hunting pe…" I stumble over the word, so I change my mind and just say "them?" Do you really believe it's no different than hunting animals?"

A very serious look comes across Gale's face, and he says, "Katniss, you know better than anyone else that it's not. Why do you think I said that?"

"I..I don't know," I fumble my words. I didn't really believe Gale would think that, but I had to know for sure.

He takes my face in his hands, and says "I needed to get your head in the Games. That's all. I needed you to come home."

He looks at me through the darkness. He knows I'm thinking that sometimes I question if my winning was a good thing. I know he believes it was, and I know it drives him mad that I don't always think like he does. "Is this because of today?" he asks finally.

"I don't know. Maybe," I pause, thinking about how to phrase my question. And this is what I want to ask: "Would you think that way if you were going into the Quell?"

He squirms, and I can tell he dislikes thinking of himself killing innocent people. That's answer enough for me, but he adds, "It would depend on the outcome."

It doesn't surprise me at all that he thinks that way, but he doesn't know what it's like to hunt something with a soul and try to understand who you are after all is said and done. "What if you were in my position?" I ask, knowing that this will redirect his thought process.

He thinks for a moment. "I would try to survive."

"And if you didn't know me, or," I pause feeling uncomfortable saying the word 'love,' "care about me?"

"Survive." This time it sounds like a request. A command. A need.

**Workout Day 39, Monday:**

Prim wakes me up and opens my curtains when she realizes I'm not awake yet and the boys are almost here for breakfast. She comes to sit on my bed as I stretch and yawn my drowsiness away.

"You didn't used to get up to talk to me little duck," I say, and gently poke her side. She giggles and starts playing with my hair.

"Peeta's paintings are beautiful," she says dreamily, and I wonder when she saw them but I'm too groggy to ask.

"He's definitely a good artist," I say.

"Katniss.." she starts and decides not to finish her question.

"What is it?" I ask her softly.

"What'd you think when Peeta told you that he liked you?" Prim asks.

"You mean, when he told all of Panem?" I ask.

"No, well yeah, that too. I meant when he told you in the cave."

"I don't really know," I say and brush the hair out of her eyes. "I was just trying to come home to you."

"Do you like him?" she asks, and I know she wouldn't judge me at all if I did. She knows how much I care for Gale, but I think she can sense that I have feelings for Peeta too, no matter how small, or inconsequential.

"I care about him," I say, hoping she will leave it at that.

"He cares about you too," she smiles, and I nod.

Prim knows I'm not much for talking about boys, so she pulls me out of bed and we go downstairs to eat breakfast with the Haymitch and Peeta. When I look across the table at Peeta, I feel a rush of emotions. Guilt, fear, sadness, and something else, though I don't want to delve into that right now. Because what good will it do any of us?

When we get to the meadow I ask, "Peeta, Madge can't make it today to do yoga, so can I make a suggestion?"

He raises his eyebrows in surprise and laughs, "Yeah…well, maybe. Depends on the suggestion."

"Okay, I'll be right back," I say and head to my old house.

"Okay?" Peeta questions as I start running away, and I hear them laugh as I sprint away.

When I get to my old house, I search the rooms until I find Buttercup, curled into a ball. He hisses as I reach for him. I pick him up cautiously and hold him as far away from my body as I can. I walk back to the meadow with Buttercup in my outstretched arms, and when I look at the boys' faces, I can tell they think I'm crazy.

"What do you want us to do with that thing," Haymitch asks. "Cook it?

"What!" I squeal.

"Ew..I don't want to eat it," Peeta scrunches up his nose. "It's so scrawny. Probably no meat on that thing."

"This is Buttercup!" I shout. "And no, you can't eat him! This is Prim's cat." I look at them horrified that they would think of eating Prim's precious cat, even though I've thought of that once or twice-just when my family and I were starving though.

"So what do you want us to do with it?" Peeta asks confused and impatient.

"Well neither of you have hunted animals, so I thought we could simulate it with Buttercup. He's fast, and you'll never know his path. We can chase him for an hour or two and practice hunting him," I suggest.

Peeta looks at his agenda, and then back at Buttercup and finally says, "Okay." _I guess what he had for today was boring in comparison._

We chase Buttercup all day long and we're only able to catch him a few times. That stupid, mangy cat takes us all over the district, up through trees and bushes, through people's houses, to which we apologize as we pass through, and even back through my old house in the Seam. He avoids the town square though, and I'm glad for that because I don't think he'd survive that part of town.

After a while we can't find Buttercup at all, so we give up and go back to the meadow to eat lunch. When we've finished eating we complete the list of exercises on Peeta's sheet before we walk back home for the day. We're leaving a little earlier than normal, but Peeta says we should try to finish Garnet's Games before dinner so we can start watching the 32nd Games after we eat. We don't question him because he's the master schedule keeper.

We finish Garnet's Games, and they were pretty boring. He's good with a sword, a spear, and a knife. It came down to him and the rest of the Career pack at the end, and they had a pretty bloody battle at the end that lasted almost a full two hours. We finally get to the end of his Games, and he and the girl from District 2 manage to fight off the rest of the pack until the end. When it comes down to the two of them they're exhausted from fighting and both have the same thought at the same time. Throw a knife. They do, and the girl's knife misses when Garnet twists out of the way, but his knife sticks in her chest, and after a few seconds the boom sounds and he's lifted from the arena as the Victor.

Next is dinner, even if we're not very hungry after watching the Games. When we get to my house my mom has made baked chicken, salad, corn on the cob, and rolls.

"Hey, princess," Haymitch calls Prim. "Can you massage this spot right here?"

Prim looks surprised that Haymitch asked for her help, but I think he feels bad for calling her princess. "Sorry, Prim. Will you please massage this spot?"

Prim smiles, "Of course, Haymitch." She starts massaging his shoulders with her tiny hands.

"What do you not know anyone's real name, Haymitch?" Peeta asks.

"Her name is Prim," he says matter-of-factly. Peeta rolls his eyes at him, and I chuckle. Prim may not dislike the nickname princess...but I know something else she won't like...

"Prim, did you know that Haymitch chased Buttercup today?" I say. I know she's going to tense up and I'm hoping she takes it out on Haymitch's shoulders. She loves that ugly, mean cat.

"What? Why?" Prim squeals in horror. She glares at Haymitch, well tries to at least. She's had plenty of lessons by watching me all her life, but she's never held a glare for very long. She's just too sweet.

But this time she manages to hold her glare for more than two seconds and my eyebrows lift in pleasant surprise. "Now that's my baby sister!" I say proudly.

She turns to smile at me with a big grin and I sigh and stamp my head with my hand in defeat. She made it-what-four seconds this time?

"Oh!" she squeaks, realizing I was proud of her glare but she gave up on it to smile. She swivels back around to face Haymitch and glares at him again, shaking her tiny blonde head at him for Buttercup's sake.

"Alright, princess. I get it," Haymitch says in exasperation. He pulls up his sleeves to reveal all the scratch marks Buttercup engraved on him. I watch Prim's eyes go wide, and she giggles, "That's my kitty."

We still have time before we bedtime, so we begin the 32nd Hunger Games. The Victor is a girl from District 3, Phila Tarmer, who takes off when the gong sounds and runs until nightfall. She outsmarts the technology by keeping out of range of the cameras and knows to be quiet around the microphones. Honestly the Capitol is having a hard time tracking her and they seem to lose her more than once, although the announcers don't say that. On the fourth day, the canon booms for her when it appears that she's fallen off a cliff and gone to her death.

"What do I do?" Peeta looks from his notes to Haymitch. "She's dead. How did she win?"

"If she won, how is she dead?" Haymitch asks. _My thoughts exactly._ She must have survived the fall. But how didn't the Capitol know if she was dead or not. It's as if Haymitch hears my thoughts, because he says, "This was the final Games before the Gamemakers insisted on tracking devices. Fast forward until the end, Peeta."

He does, and when the final boom sounds and the male Tribute from District 4 is left alone in a field they announce him as the Victor. But before he gets lifted away, Phila appears as if she crawled out of the grave. The boy from 4's eyes go wide and lock on her like she's a ghost. She runs towards him, and he panics and runs away from her. The announcers say that he is probably dehydrated and most likely thinks he's hallucinating.

She runs faster and faster until she gets to him, and when she's within reach of him, she pulls out a branch with a whittled point at the end, and sticks him with it in the back until he falls down dead.

"Wow, I bet he wasn't expecting that," I say, and the boys know that I'm really talking about Snow.

**Workout Day 40, Tuesday:**

"Haymitch get up," Peeta says with a laugh. He gets a low, gruff grumble from Haymitch who turns his back to him and tries to go back to sleep. "Haymitch," he says shaking his shoulder but keeping his eye locked on the rusty knife clutched in Haymitch's hand.

"Go away boy," he hisses at Peeta. "I'm sick."

"You're not sick," Peeta says. "You're just trying to avoid working out."

Haymitch turns to Peeta and gives him a nasty glare. "Yes, I am. Now out of here bread boy."

"If you're sick than you'll need a doctor's note," he says simply and offers his hand to help him get out of bed.

Haymitch swats it away and stalks out the door to see my mom. She feels his forehead and glands and listens to his breathing. When he coughs she sighs, "Poor Haymitch. I bet these two are trying to make you workout when you're sick aren't they?

Haymitch grunts, and my mom purses her lips at us. I don't feel too bad though. He's going to get spoiled today by my mom and Prim.

Peeta says he'll be right back and dashes over to his house before I can say anything. My mom orders Haymitch to bed and promises to come over and make him some soup for lunch since Peeta and I will be gone.

"What is this, a date?" I ask eyeing the bag and wrapped up bread warily.

"I wouldn't dream of taking Katniss Everdeen on a date," he says with a smile.

"Some fiancé you are," I joke and he laughs.

"Come on," Peeta says and leads the way.

He's decided to "hike" today, which means continuously walking through the district and up small hills again and again to pretend we're really hiking. We can't go out of the district fences, so I guess this is the next best thing.

Haymitch's POV

While I'm sick and have some privacy I might as well make some phone calls. You'd think the sweethearts wouldn't mind being alone, but no...

I call the first person that I know will have answers for me. "Hey fish lips. Caught anything good lately?" Code for: Hey Finn. Had any high profile patrons lately?

"Actually last week I speared a carp." Code for: I had to sleep with a horrible lady in the Capitol.

"Oh yeah? Was it good?" Code for: "What information did you get?"

"It was pretty old, but it had seen a lot of the ocean." Code for: She was old, but she knew a lot about the arena."

"Sounds like a good catch. What part of the ocean did you catch it in?" Code for: "This is a lucky break. What's the arena like?"

"I was on a boat, about a mile from shore, and I saw it by a bunch of seaweed in a shallow spot. There were quite a few carps." Code for: "The arena is going to have water and land, and there will definitely be trees or some type of vegetation. There will be food to hunt."

"Sounds like a dangerous place to fish," I say. Code for: "Is it the most dangerous arena we've seen?"

"Yeah, but it felt like home," he says with an edge in his voice. Code for: "It's going to be bad. It's similar to the 50th Quarter Quell-your arena." I can tell from the edge in his voice that he's worried about how I'm taking this information.

"Yeah, well I've seen the ocean a few times in my day, fish lips." Code for: "All the arenas are bad, but thanks for the concern."

"Is it true that you miss it so bad you watch old videos of the waves?" Code for: "Do you really watch the Games at night?"

"Yeah, apparently I can't get enough of the ocean." Code for: "I hate having to watch these Games again."

"Have you seen my beach yet?" Finnick says with mirth in his voice. Code for: "Have you watched my Games yet?"

"Nah," I say. "Your beach sucks." Code for: "No. Your Games were terrible."

"Sure, sure. We both know you can't wait to see it. Try not to dream of me at night after seeing the waves all day," he says, and I hang up without a goodbye.

Next on my to call list is Johanna. _This'll be fun. _"Hey treehugger, how're the evergreens treating you?"

"Hey old timer," Johanna says sarcastically. "Finnick called. Why are you watching the old videos of the sea? That's sick."

"Ah you know how those waves calm me down." Code for: "Yeah right, those tapes give me night sweats."

"Whatever works for you. I haven't had time to watch any tapes. A bunch of the Victors have been roped into logging." Code for: "I'm training too, but not watching the Games. Me and the rest of the Victor jerks have been honing our skills with weapons."

"Well I better let you get back to that," I say. "I've got another call coming in."

"Hello?" I say since I don't know who it is.

"Hey-Mitch, it's Cinna. Finnick just called. He let me know I could call you right now. I heard Katniss liked the clothes. What'd she think of Effie's?"

"She hated them. But why did you have to put the girl in that outfit. All the lame brains here are drooling over her."

Cinna laughs. "Is that such a bad thing?"

I hang up the phone. Yes, it is. If we don't make it out of this arena on that hovercraft, I know she'll at least be alive-she's a survivor, but I know Peeta won't-he'll die before any harm comes to her. If things go to hell there's no way Snow will let them both come out, and I know what he'll do to her if there's no more star-crossed lovers angle... "Yes, Cinna it is a bad thing," I say to myself.

Katniss' POV

When we get back to my house we find a pathetic heap bundled in a blanket with his feet in a bucket of hot water. Prim is beside him, nursing him back to health, and my mom is preparing dinner in the kitchen. She's making soup, and while Peeta and I are warm enough from hiking and walking all day we don't complain because food is food. Besides, my mom's cooking is great, and it's certainly a treat to have her making the meals for us.

Seeder's arena doesn't have a lot of vegetation, in fact it's mostly a giant field with he occasional tree. Most of the other Tributes are taking quick, worried peeks at their surroundings, probably wondering where they can hide.

The bloodbath lasts for hours and over half are dead in a half hour. By the time the cannons sound there are seventeen dead Tributes. With that open field I reckon that everyone could have been dead by the end of the first day. That would have been too short for the Capitol though, so they sent in mutts to scatter the Tributes.

Seeder took refuge in a tree right away, and has been perched their safely for hours. It doesn't look like she intends to come down, but once the pictures of the fallen Tributes are shown she hops down and scavenges for food. No other Tribute could do this successfully, but she was lucky to get a sponsor gift of night vision glasses. I guess luck was part of it, but she also did get an 8, an impressive number for a Tribute from 11.

**Workout Day 41, Wednesday:**

When we get to the meadow, Peeta sets out his normal workout routine, but he's added an extra set to each exercise and increased the repetitions. Haymitch and I grumble, but Peeta tells us we can't "plateau" and that we have to keep working harder to "reach new levels of strength." Haymitch and I share a look that means "why don't we just tie him to the tree and go find a drink?" But we'd rather not have Peeta commanding us to do this or that, so we do his routine without any more complaints.

Push-ups

4 sets of 30

Lunges

4 sets of 30

Side Lunges

4 sets of 30

Squats

4 sets of 30

Calf Raises

4 sets of 40

Crunches

4 sets of 150

Bicycle

4 sets of 75

Oblique Crunches

4 sets of 30

Butterfly Kicks

4 sets of 50

Plank

Hold 1 minute/4 times

We're so exhausted at the end of the workout that we don't even bother to do any combat training, well Haymitch and I don't that is. Haymitch has extra cause to leave early since he's still recovering from his cold. It wasn't too bad of a cold though, or my mom would have made him stay home again. Our stomachs were growling at the end of the routine, and the amount of food we brought didn't leave us feeling replenished, so after Madge stops by with her father's newspaper we head back home.

"Wait, what are you guys doing?" Peeta asks. Apparently he didn't get the memo that there will be no combat training today.

"Going home to rest," Haymitch gripes.

"You can't do that," Peeta says, running in front of us and trying to block us from leaving.

"Yes, we can," I say and we go around him. But Peeta comes back around and this time Haymitch doesn't hold back his irritation. He's tired, but there's no way he plans to keep going today. He knocks Peeta onto his butt, and pins his shoulders down by laying across his chest. He grabs Peeta's artificial leg, and looks back at Peeta daring him to make Haymitch and I keep training. Peeta scowls at him but gives up and says, "Fine. We'll go back, but we're going to watch the Games still."

His bark is worse than his bite though, because after we eat lunch at Haymitch's house, he falls asleep on Haymitch's couch first. We all follow suit, and pick a comfortable spot to nap.

We continue watching Seeder's Games after we wake up a couple hours later. Our bodies are already sore from the increased workout, and we don't feel like moving, but Peeta drags us over to his house to continue Seeder's Games.

It's a strange thing, but she reminds me of Rue, just a little, and only during specific moments, but every time she climbs a tree or searches for edible plants I think of Rue. Seeder continues to scavenge for food at night and live in the tree during the day. The Gamemakers leave her alone for several days since there's continual bloodshed with the other Tributes, but when it reaches day five and they're down to four Tributes they start to set muttations on her to drive her out of the tree.

Prim comes over to see why we're not at dinner yet, and when she finds us draped on the furniture with heavy eye lids she smiles and coos at us, thinking our exhaustion is sweet.

"Hi Peeta," she says and comes over to him. _That's strange._ Usually she's polite but I haven't really seen her come up to him on her own accord.

"Princess, I have a small request, if it's not too much to ask," Haymitch says. _Okay, what does he want?_ I think. "Do you do delivery?"

Prim scrunches her face at him, but looks down at Peeta and I slumped onto Peeta's largest couch, and she says "okay" and scurries off to bring dinner to us.

"You better keep an eye on that sister of yours," Haymitch teases.

"Huh?" I say, and he laughs at me.

"Quiet, Haymitch," Peeta says.

We pause the Games while we eat dinner, because I never want to have to eat and watch these Games ever again. I had to do that for years, and I don't want to do that during training. When we finish dinner we resume Seeder's Games and watch as she gets stung by huge muttation mosquitoes that suck away so much of her blood that everyone thinks she's going to pass out from blood loss and fall out of the tree. Somehow she manages to stay conscious even though her body goes into a state of shock. She starts mumbling unintelligible words and looks like she's going to throw up. The Gamemakers announce that she could die from the blood loss. But she doesn't. She stays in her tree clutching on to life, and in the morning she looks like she's doing a little better.

The Gamemakers tire of her living in a tree though, so when she doesn't come down or die from blood loss they send a small group of bee muttations at her. They aren't as venomous as the tracker jackers from my Games, but they certainly have an effect on her and this time she falls out of the tree before they can kill her with the poison. She hobbles into a nearby patch of shrubs that have thorns on them and the bees die from the thorns. She frantically digs the stingers out, and cries while she pulls some leaves out of her bag and places them on the stings. The Gamemakers estimate that she's endured twelve stings. They call one of the Capitol scientists and ask how many times a person can get stung by these particular bees and survive. When the scientist replies ten, everyone thinks she'll be dead by the end of the day. And it looks like she does when she passes out but the Gamemakers don't sound her canon yet because they don't want to make a mistake like last time.

So we wait for her to come back to life. When she does, a whole day has passed, and she wakes up disoriented and starving. There are three Tributes left, including her, and when the feast is announced at the Cornucopia she wanders to it without grasping how bad of a state she's in. She grabs a sack of food, puts it in her bag, and stumbles away before anyone else gets there.

The boy from 7 and the girl from 2 run to the Cornucopia as well, and when they see each other the boy from 7 makes a mad dash to grab his food and flee from the girl from 2. She throws a knife at him as he's running and it catches him in the leg. He goes down and we all know what comes next. The boy from 7 dies when she plunges a dagger into his side.

The girl from 2 knows that Seeder is the only one left so she leaves the Cornucopia and searches for her. She finds her hobbling back into the thorny bush that was her salvation the day earlier, and she thinks Seeder is so out of it that she can't hear her. She gets cocky and comes up close, pausing for dramatic effect, and right before she digs a knife into her back Seeder slams into her as hard as she can, pulls out a knife that no one knew she had, and stabs the girl from 2 in the stomach. She backs away from the girl and runs to her tree, thinking she only wounded her. She's in so much shock that she doesn't even hear the boom and when she crawls into her tree the hovercraft has to pick her up from there.

**Workout Day 42, Thursday:**

Since Thursday is the day where I get to choose the activity, I had decided on two options, one for outdoors and one for indoors. After seeing the beautiful day outside, I choose both options instead of just one. I know I'm sore from yesterday still, so I have my heart set on an afternoon nap, and I think everyone will need it after my activity. The boys follow me outside, but instead of heading to the meadow I stop and face them on the road through our Victor's Village.

"So what are we doing today, Katniss?" Peeta asks.

"We're going to do two things today. One activity is for outdoors, and the other we'll do inside."

"I hope one of them is sleeping," Haymitch mumbles groggily.

I brush off his comment and announce, "We will be jogging all morning."

To my surprise, Peeta's eyes widen, and unsurprisingly Haymitch starts muttering under his breath. "We're going to jog all morning?" Peeta asks in disbelief.

"Sweetheart, can I ask you something?" Haymitch says. "Why do you hate me?"

I shake my head at him. "This will be good for us. Think about how much we had to run during our Games," I say and raise my eyebrows at Peeta. "All of the Games have involved a lot of running," I say, trying to reason with Haymitch who is still looking at me like I'm crazy.

I know they may hate the idea, but they'll follow me if I start running, so that's what I do. We jog over to the meadow, going on a different route than through town like we normally do. When we get there we jog around it a few times, and then run through the Seam, turn around before we get to town, and go back through the Seam to the meadow. I make sure to avoid the town square and the mines because those places have hundreds of Peacekeepers around and we don't need any more trouble than we already have. We run this route several times until a couple hours have passed and we take a half hour break to rest and rehydrate.

Then I make the boys get up and we run the route two more times until I tell them we've completed the first activity. We eat lunch under the shade of the tree, and I lead them back home to shower and change. We meet back at Peeta's house for the next activity, and when I walk in the door with three fluffy pillow they look relieved. We've worked out pretty hard the last two days, so I feel like another nap is in order. Besides, none of us sleep well at night anyways, so I reckon this is good for us.

After our nap and another Everdeen dinner delivery, we begin the 34th Hunger Games, and Gale surprises us by showing up to Peeta's to watch the Games with us.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you came to watch the Games," Haymitch says to Gale. He's trying to get under his skin, and it works quickly. Gale's glaring back at him. I know that idea is disgusting to him, and I know that he bridles his tongue every time he shows up here while we're watching the Games. No one in District 12 hates the Games more than him, well besides Haymitch, Peeta, and me, but we have more of a cause to hate them.

"Why weren't you at your house?" Gale asks, and then he notices the pillows. "What are the pillows for?" he asks.

"We had a long day," I say, and I know that he'll ask me more later. He scratches the back of his neck and then I notice that his wrist is wrapped up. "What's wrong?" I ask and grab his arm.

"Ow," he says, laughing that I grabbed the arm that was hurt.

"Oops, sorry," I apologize. "But seriously, are you okay?"

"Yeah, your mom patched me up. I'm good as new," he smiles.

I frown at his wrist. He uses his arms all day in the mines, and I know he will push past the pain to earn money for his family. I look back in his eyes and say, "If you can't work tomorrow, you can workout with us."

I know that will never happen. He's too proud and stubborn to ask me for food or money. He won't take my "handouts," and while I respect him for that, I also fear for his own safety when he gets hurt like this and won't allow me to help him and his family.

We settle into our typical seating arrangements, and after a little while Gale finds the scar from my most recent bee sting. He looks surprised by it. It's at this point that I realize I must have forgotten to tell him about that day in the meadow. He doesn't say anything until after the Games though.

When we get to my room after watching the Games, Gale asks, "What's this from?" His fingers brush over the scarred skin, barely touching it but enough to shiver from the touch. He chuckles when I get goosebumps and shake.

"Oh. Hornets in the tree that we use for training," I say. "Haymitch was climbing the tree, and he knocked down the nest on accident."

"Haymitch was climbing a tree?" he asks, amused by the idea.

Gale looks at my hand and my neck, and brushes the skin at the nape of my neck so softly that it feels like butterfly wings. "I remember when you were stung during the Games. I'd never been so scared…well, until Clove came at you, and then the mutts, and Cato." He kisses my sting's scar.

"It wasn't much fun for me either," I say.

He's silent for a few seconds, and I know he's thinking of all the things he wishes he could undo-the reaping, the Games, the star-crossed lovers angle, the Quell, among other things. "I find myself thinking back to the woods," he says. "Now, I'm lucky if I can see you twice a week." His fingers glide over the bare skin on my arms, and it feels electric.

I nod, "me too. So much has changed since the reaping. I hate it."

"I do too," he says. He's silent for a while before he asks, "What was with the pillows today? You guys don't.." he motions like he wants me to fill in the blanks. He realizes I don't understand what he's thinking, so he spells it out. "You guys don't sleep..together, do you?"

"Well, yeah," I say simply, and I see Gale tense up. I know I just brought back bad memories for him, so I say, "Just for naps though. During the day. And we each have our own couch," I add quickly.

He breathes out in relief and pulls me into his arms, and when I lift my head to kiss him he meets my lips, and it feels like a reward for good behavior.

**Workout Day 43, Friday:**

After a two mile jog this morning, we decide to work on hand-to-hand combat until the sun breaks out. Clouds have covered the entire district, but we see a patch of blue headed our way, so we take advantage of the cooler weather and do hand-to-hand combat now. It's a little harder to do when we're all sweaty, and it's really unpleasant to go up against a sweaty _and stinky_ Haymitch.

Peeta and Haymitch start first, and I'm supposed to take on the winner. I notice that Haymitch is trying a little harder than normal. Peeta tries to immobilize him, but Haymitch is still strong and manages to throw his arms or legs off before Peeta gets him pinned. This goes on for a while, and after a while Peeta starts to get tired. Haymitch does too, but he must feel like he has something to prove if he's actually trying to win.

When he does, he brushes himself off, and looks at me. "Payback time, sweetheart," he says as he sets up to wrestle with me.

_Crap._ Maybe I shouldn't have made him jog so much yesterday. He pins me in a single minute and sits on me until I promise not to make them run that much ever again.

"Say it," Haymitch says, shifting his weight so I can't breathe.

"No," I huff.

"Say we won't run that much again," he demands.

I look to Peeta for backup but he shakes his head at me and smiles. I guess he didn't care for jogging day either. "Fine!" I say.

Haymitch tumbles off me and looks like this is his favorite workout so far. We keep wrestling until the sun becomes too much for us, and then Peeta lets us set up our knife throwing stations. We work on that for the rest of the day until we head home for dinner.

We start the 35th Hunger Games tonight. Kasia Pate is the Victor. She's from District 4, and Haymitch says that she was a Career. We watch her spear a few Tributes in the bloodbath, and she does a fair share of killing throughout the whole Games, mostly with the spear, but she also uses a dagger when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.

She wins by breaking away from the Career pack at night, and hiding from them until they take the rest of the Tributes out, along with themselves. It's down to her and the boy from District 1 and at the end she displays another combat technique: the sword. They fight for about an hour, covering quite a lot of ground and even going up and down patches of rock. It's on a large rock that the boy from 1 trips and falls down, his sword falling a few feet away. He knows he's lost and his face shows it. Boom!

**Workout Day 44, Saturday:**

"Peeta…how did you do this?" I ask in astonishment when we get to the meadow. The meadow has transformed into a giant obstacle course. It's incredible. It looks like he must have been ordering the pieces for this for weeks, and setting it up must have taken hours.

"What does it look like we are? Giant dogs?" Haymitch quips. He's clearly unhappy with today's agenda, and I doubt we can get him to participate for more than one round of the course.

Peeta rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

"Everdeen," he calls to me.

"Mellark," I call back in the same voice. _Why boys always use last names I'll never understand. _Maybe it's because they don't like to learn first names. That's probably why Haymitch uses nicknames.

"What do you say we make a wager?" he says with a side smile. "Make things more interesting."

"What'd you have in mind?" I ask warily. From what I've gathered while watching him and Haymitch play cards is that he doesn't bet unless he knows he's got good odds.

"Are you sure?" I say.

"Yes," he says confidently.

"Alright, if I win...no more pushups," I say.

"No way. If you win...you can lead the workout on Tuesday," he says, and I smile at the idea of that. "But if you lose, you have to wear an outfit that Effie sent me for your workouts." At that I frown.

I don't like the sound of wearing an outfit Effie picked out for me, but leading Tuesday's workout would be great. He raises his eyebrows at me to see if we've got a deal, but I'm not ready to shake on it yet. "Show me the outfit," I say.

Peeta shakes his head. "Not part of the bet. If I don't know your idea for Tuesday than you don't get to see the outfit."

I purse my lips together. _If I win, Peeta is going to do loads of pushups on Tuesday…_"Alright, you've got yourself a deal." We shake on it, and line up.

"3...2...1...Go!"

AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading.

Anonymous review replies:

Mooglez - Thank you for your review! I'm definitely back until this story is complete, and I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter. The length overwhelms me too sometimes :) but it's very fun to write. I hope you liked the new chapter!


	9. Slip N Slide

**Chapter 8: Slip N Slide**

**AN: I'm so sorry for the long delay in updating. Between increased hours and traveling for work, and struggling with this chapter, the update took longer than I anticipated. Thanks for bearing with me. ****Hopefully the length makes up for it. A**lso, thank you Pinklove21 for the idea to flood Gale's mine tunnel. I think that day turned out much better after he showed up! I hope you agree ;) A big thank you to blop, ShortySC22, Ellenka, Jerry Side, moonlight goose, willow hawthorne, Pinklove21, Celtic Angel18, To be a rebel, Jill, and Elle for the wonderful reviews! They gave me the biggest smile :) It means a lot to have continual reviewers, and I love it when I see reviews from new people. Thank you also to everyone who put this on alert. 

**I believe this chapter officially hits above the word count of SC's The Hunger Games. Can't believe it's really that long already...Italics are for internal monologues and dreams. ****I hope you enjoy! **

**Workout Day 45, Sunday:**

I've been dreading getting out of bed today. Prim has knocked twice to let me know the boys are here. Peeta's knocked too, but that was to drop off my horrible outfit. I can't believe I lost the bet. Peeta is pretty solid in a wager. Maybe Gale's in for a surprise.

Peeta brought me two options "out of the kindness of his heart" but both options were horrible. He made me try both on and then decide. The way he laughed and pitied me made me fume even more, and I'm starting to have a bad feeling about how the rest of today is going to go.

Prim knocks for the third time, so I reluctantly let her in. When she takes in my outfit her eyes light up and her smile is the biggest I've seen it in months. _Almost_ worth wearing this...

Prim lets out a giggle as she takes in my obvious displeasure with the outfit. I'm standing in a skin tight body suit, and the colors are so bright and menacing that I feel like...well like Effie. My shirt is an array of colors that changes with the angle and light. I'm not sure how, but I think it must have something to do with the plastic type material that's plastered all over the fabric. The colors shimmer from yellow to pink to white to orange to red and back through that exact same cycle of colors-but only when the suit catches the light right. I get it, I'm the "Girl on Fire" and the outfit was somehow supposed to reflect that, but really it's just screaming that it was done by an amateur trying to copy Cinna's brilliant design. Effie's note said that all the girls in the Capitol are wearing outfits like this but that mine is the best design she's seen so far. She said it really "lights up the Capitol." It makes me pity the girls in the Capitol since they actually think this is attractive and would _want _to be seen in this outfit.

The second option of the outfits Effie sent me, which I promptly threw away, was a shirt and pants combination, again skin tight and hideously colored. The top was a creamy white color which morphed into a bright white towards the neck, and the material had a glossy shine to it. But the pants were what drove me instantly to the body suit. They were skin tight and the brightest, most hideous pink with little, metallic threads of orange, red, and yellow intermixed all over the pants. Peeta made me put it on to decide which one to wear, and when I walked the threads swayed and threw off light. I nearly ripped them off in front of him I was so upset that Effie thought I would actually like it.

Prim closely examines the body suit I'm donning, scrunching her nose. "Did Cinna make this for you?"

"No," I say immediately. The thought of Cinna making this outfit is as repulsive as the outfit.

Prim laughs when she comes up behind me. "Katniss! Are you wearing your granny panties today?" Prim asks, pointing to my underwear line that's now showing through my pants.

"I don't really know if I have any that aren't," I laugh. "At least that's probably what my prep team would say." I glance at Prim and it seems that she was about to say that too.

"Well you can't wear _these_ pants with _those_ underwear," she dramatically points to my pants and then up to my "inappropriate panty line," and then shakes her head at me like Octavia does.

"What are you - an adult?" I ask coming up to braid her loose, long blonde hair into two braids. I can't believe my baby sister is giving me fashion advice. Isn't she supposed to be obsessed with butterflies and jewelry or something?

She lets out a composed laugh, corrects her posture and holds her chin up, pretending to slough off what little is left of her childhood. But I'm not ready for that stage of her life to be over yet, as much as I'm enjoying watching her grow into a beautiful young woman, so I tickle her until I hear her real laugh. It's a mix of giggles and snorts, and the even more adorable laughter without sound. To me that's the best non-sound in the world.

Prim shakes her head at me. She knows I'm trying to distract her so that this whole outfit process is over quicker. But she goes over to my dresser anyways to search for "the right pair of underwear." To be honest, as long as they cover me, doesn't that count as being "right"? After rummaging through my dresser for a few seconds I see panties flying from the drawer all over the room and Prim is muttering "no" or "this won't work" or "why do you even own this?" I just sit on my bed, ducking occasionally from the flying panties, and shake my head at the sister who is so different from me but in such an adorable way.

Prim holds up my favorite pair of underwear with a horror-stricken look and asks, "Katniss, why do you still have these?"

"They're my favorite ones," I justify.

"They have holes in them!" she says.

"So? They're really comfortable when I'm hunting."

Her eyes go wide. "You wore these in the woods?"

"Yeah," I shrug. "All the time."

Her eyes bug out wider. "You wore these around Gale?"

I furrow my eyebrows and wonder why that would be a problem. "Yeah. Why?"

"How could you let him see you in these?!"

"What? No! He didn't!"

Someone knocks and Prim immediately throws my favorite panties in the garbage.

"No!" I cry out. I race towards them and snatch them out.

Peeta opens the door. "What's all the commotion?" he asks taking in he scene and noticing the panties in my hand and all over the room.

All our faces flush bright red and I whip my favorite panties behind my back. "Nothing," I try to say casually.

"Uhh.." Wow is he tongue tied? I should get a medal for that, or something. He's completely lost his train of thought. "Do you...plan on eating breakfast at some point?" he asks casting his eyes away from me and anywhere my panties have been flung.

"Yes," I say.

He sighs and looks up at me. "Okay, when?"

I look down at my outfit. "As soon as you let me change."

"Then you'll starve," he says sarcastically.

"That's better than wearing this outfit," I quip.

He sighs in frustration. "I'll give you a cheese bun."

_Alright, Peeta you have my attention_...I hold out my hand for one, but he laughs and shakes his head. He holds out a hand that's been behind the door. On top of his palm is a beautiful, fat cheese bun.

I start walking towards it but as soon as I grab it he swings me up into his arms, and throws me onto his back. He starts carrying me downstairs. When I hear laughter downstairs I know they're laughing at my outfit so I start struggling in Peeta's arms to go back to my room to hide.

"I believe this is 1 more point for me. Hawthorne's going to be maaaad," Peeta says with a chuckle.

"Peeta!" I cry out.

"Katniss!" he mimics.

"Put me down!"

He pauses like he's thinking about it, but then says a quick, "no."

"I'm not ready for breakfast," I say. Really I just want to spend today in my room. This outfit is sucking away my motivation for trap day. And that's saying something because I love Sundays with Gale.

"Katniss, you've been in your room for like an hour," he says. "Haymitch is already having thirds."

I laugh. "Like he needs those."

"Laugh now, sweetheart," Haymitch says. "We'll be having the last laugh today." He eyes my outfit and starts laughing. He laughs so hard he starts crying. "Oh Effie would have loved to see this," he says. I have to punch his arm to get him to stop. I give him my meanest glare and stomp to the dining room table without saying a word.

"If looks could kill..." Haymitch quietly sing songs at my mom, Prim, and Peeta as they all make their way to the table for breakfast.

No one says a word for about five minutes, until Haymitch breaks the silence and busts into laughter all over again. This time he doesn't hold anything back. "You look like Effie," he cackles. "This is the best day ever!"

I scowl at him, and turn on Peeta. "I'll get you back for this," I threaten him. I'm mad at Peeta for deceiving me about how horrifying this outfit is.

Peeta looks at me like I'm being ridiculous and says, "You made the best, and you lost the bet fair and square. Rules must be obeyed..." he smiles and goes back to eating.

"Rules are meant to be broken," I mutter after eating the rest of my prized cheese bun.

"Well if you want to break this rule, you'll have to switch this outfit with the one she sent last week," he says, laughter catching in his voice until he's rolling with laughter.

"No." I say firmly. "I will not wear that hideous color." Pink. The entire outfit was pink. That's the one he intended for me to wear, but when I threw it in the garbage it was clear that I would never wear it. I chose this body suit for a reason. It's the lesser of two evils.

"Whatever you say. I think you're choosing the wrong one though…" Peeta warns with a cocky smile on his face. "Just remember that you would have held me to the bet if you had won," he says. And even though it's true I brush off his comment. "We all know you would have," he continues. "In fact, I bet you had a huge list of push-ups for me to do." I blush and he smiles knowing he's right. _How does he know that was my plan?_

For the first time since we started training Gale doesn't surprise me when we make it to the meadow. Instead I surprise him. The moment he sees me he does a double take and the look of shock on his face makes wearing this outfit even worse. "You look great," Gale teases and bites down on his lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Shut up," I mumble.

Gale lets out the laugh he was holding in, and raises his eyebrows in question at Peeta and Haymitch, since he know he won't get the story out of me.

"She lost a bet," Peeta smiles.

"It was an unfair bet," I claim.

"Oh yeah?" Peeta asks. "Then why'd you make it?"

Thoughts of Peeta doing push-ups _all day long_ dance through my head, but I snap out of it when he pushes me forward to start our morning warm-up jog.

"Come on," he says. "You can day dream on your own time. Oh, and Gale? I've got 1 for today already," he smirks. Gale watches him, stone faced, while we jog away from him.

When we finish our light jog we stretch out our muscles for the day while Gale organizes the snare materials in his box. "So how did you lose a bet, Catnip?" Gale asks me, peeking at my outfit from the corner of his eye and laughing quietly.

"Yesterday Peeta made an obstacle course for us to run through, and he bet me...that he would finish first," I say, embarrassed that I didn't win. I mean, Peeta has a prosthetic leg for goodness sake...

Gale turns towards me then looks at Peeta in disbelief.

"Ah, Catnip," he laughs. "You're in real trouble..."

"Hey," Peeta defends himself. "I'm faster than I look."

"Or she's slower than she should be," Gale teases me, laughing again. When he catches my glare he bites his lip and switches topics. "Alright, today you're going to learn the bow trap. So thanks for bringing your bows."

We hold our bows close to our chests, proud that they have a dual function. "If you had to make bows, this might actually be the best use for them..." Gale teases. I slug him in the arm and he laughs. "Obviously, I mean any bow other than the one Catnip would make."

"That's more like it," I smile.

"The bow trap is very dangerous," Gale says seriously. "It's more likely to kill an animal, or person, by bleeding out than by you having to finish the job yourself. But..if you aren't careful, it can easily get you as well."

I gulp. That must be why he never set these in our woods. I've never heard of this snare. Gale looks over at me, and nods his head almost imperceptibly. He knows what I'm thinking.

"Alright, since you've already got the bows made, today we'll work on anchoring them properly and dismantling them safely," he continues. "Grab seven pegs," he holds up some whittled sticks of wood, "two longer ones, and five smaller ones. Then find a spot where you want to set yours up and have a seat."

We follow his instructions and I settle down in a soft spot on the grass near the tree. He makes his rounds to each of us today since he doesn't have a bow to show us himself, starting with Peeta who soaks up snare instructions like a sponge. It's strange seeing them work as a team, talking to each other about survival, asking and answering questions civilly. Each week they seem to hate each other a little less, or maybe I'm just seeing what I hope for.

Gale moves on to me next, and shows me how to anchor the two longer pegs so the bow wraps around them and the tip of the arrow will fly in between those anchor pegs when triggered. "Alright, next pull your bow back," he says placing his arms around me and gently guiding mine as I pull the string of my bow back. My thoughts fly away from the bow in my hands. His body is flush against mine. Heat radiates between our bodies. I feel his breath in my hair, and his breath catches when he tries to continue," then...put two pegs here," he points to two spots in the ground where my legs are, and gets up to go help Haymitch.

When he circles around to Peeta I watch as he motions how far to pull the bow back and where to anchor the next two pegs. It's so comical I can't help but be glad Gale teaches me hands on. I think he likes it too, because he spends more time with me than with Peeta and Haymitch.

As I'm making the knots for the bow trap Gale comes over to me and tells me I didn't tie the first knot correctly. He has me try again, but says it's still wrong. After the third try goes wrong, I snip, "Oh, just do it yourself." I'm in a terrible mood today.

Gale lifts a questioning eyebrow, but starts tying the knot slowly so I can see how to do it properly. "Put your finger here for me?" he says, nodding to the string against the bow. I lay my finger over the string to keep the loop taut, and he makes quick work of sliding the knot over my finger so that it's trapped in the knot.

"We're tied for the day, Mellark," Gale suddenly shouts over to Peeta.

I sigh. _I really should've expected that._ Gale knows I get frustrated when my snares go wrong. He knows that after a while all I want is for the snare to be finished and I'll follow any instruction to get it over with.

"What does that put us at?" Gale asks. "I've got 4."

"I'm at 3," Peeta says casually.

Gale smiles wide, taunting Peeta, but Peeta lets it roll off his shoulders. "Just 3, huh?" Gale chaffs Peeta.

"You're only at 4," Peeta says. "Shouldn't you have won this thing by now? You're the trap expert."

Gale's face goes hard, and he takes over my snare, tying knots and anchoring pegs at a much faster rate than any of us can follow, completely ignoring our ridiculously slow pace.

"Gale, slow down," I say.

He looks up at me. "How much of that did you catch?"

I shake my head. He undoes the snare, and restarts from the beginning. After a few rounds of doing…then undoing…then redoing…again and again we find ourselves getting better at the snare. We set them up and trigger them. It's actually quite satisfying to watch our bows have a dual functionality. We know that they shoot well, but know we know they can also be used as a trap.

After we've practiced the snare until our fingers are becoming raw I say, "Let's get going." I'd really just like to get this stupid bodysuit off, and if we wait any longer more people will gather in the streets and gawk at how idiotic I look.

"No, we've still got a little daylight left," Peeta interjects. "Gale, would you mind teaching us one more before we leave. Something simple? We're almost a month away from the Reaping and I feel like we need to learn quite a few more still."

Gale looks at me and shrugs. He sets down his snare box and starts pulling out the materials again. He could do this all day. He usually would never do this with anyone but me or his family, but as long as I'm around he'll teach us as many snares as we want.

We get through a couple of our own attempts before we realize the sun has sunk underneath the mountain range and it's starting to get dark. Gale starts saying, "Alright, it's getting dark, Mellark. Can we-" he stops and stares at me wide-eyed.

"What?" I ask.

His shock quickly turns into hearty laughter and the boys follow suit.

I scowl at all of them and throw my arms up in the air in frustration. "What?" But then I see what they see and my eyes go wide too. The fabric on my arms has started to glow bright orange. No, bright orange is not the right description. Neon orange is more accurate. I check the rest of my outfit only to be horrified at the sight of myself. My entire outfit is glowing the same neon orange color.

"Peeta!" I turn on him. "You knew didn't you!" I start charging towards him and he starts slinking away.

When I get within an arms length from him he grabs my outstretched arms and jokes, "Think you're gonna sneak up on me with that outfit? You should have chosen the pink one," he says. I take off my shoe and start whacking him with it, lightly though - I'm not his mother. "It's not my fault," he laughs. "You lost the bet!"

The next thing I know I'm swept up into Gale's arms, and he's toting me back to town on his shoulders. "I got the sun at my back and the world at my feet," he sings.

"Put me down," I say to Gale. He's laughing and having fun though, so I'm not upset when he doesn't. We don't have as many good times as we deserve, so I let him spin me around and bounce me on his shoulder. When we get to the Seam he sets me down since it wouldn't be appropriate if I "flaunted my preference" for Gale, even now. Although, that's starting to make less and less sense to me…

The walk home through the Seam and Town is humiliating. Everyone in the District seems to have come out of the woodwork to gawk at my outfit. Children, adults, and even Peacekeepers even laugh at the Girl-on-Fire. I wish I could crawl into a hole...

Gale and Peeta sense my agitation and despite laughing initially they're starting to feel bad. Peeta throws his arm around me and asks if I want him to go get me a new outfit to change into, but I just shake my head. Gale takes on a different approach. He picks me up and holds me in the air like a trophy, spinning me around until everyone's laughter turns into silence. When he puts me down everyone is staring at me like I was the sun and they had been blind to it before. I'm so dizzy from spinning though that when I take a few steps my legs get in the way and I trip. Gale was right behind me and trips over me. We tumble down to the ground in a heap, somehow I manage to land on top of him. Gale gives me a big grin and I start laughing. I look ridiculous and now I'm dizzy on top of it, so why not laugh at myself along with everyone else. Gale laughs too, but Peeta and Haymitch look at me like they think I'm having a breakdown. They help us up, and I proudly manage to make it the rest of the way home with a smile on my lips.

"I think that counts as 1 more," Gale says to Peeta during the walk, and he sighs but nods his agreement.

When we finally get home my mom has a couple patients in the downstairs room she uses for healing, and Prim is buzzing around her helping in any way she can. I smell the familiar herbs and the blood. I plant my feet, wondering how to get out of here with the three boys blocking the door. Gale sees me stiffen up and he chuckles as he coaxes me towards the kitchen, at one point pushing me so I don't run away.

We know they'll be a while and we're hungry so we start pulling ingredients out for dinner. When the boys see the roast beef in the refrigerator they seize it greedily and toss it on the counter. It's been telepathically decided. Beef it's what's for dinner.

"I'll get rolls from my house," Peeta starts directing us. "Katniss, you make the salad. Gale, you can cut up the fruit. Haymitch-"

"I'll take care of the roast beef," Haymitch interrupts, rubbing his hands together at the challenge.

"What? Why on earth would you be in charge of the meat?" I question his cooking talents.

"I can cook," Haymitch defends himself.

"Really?" I ask.

"I live alone, sweetheart," he says. "Don't you think I would've starved by now if I couldn't cook?"

"I don't know. I've never thought about it," I say and Peeta busts up laughing. He obviously has since he brought Haymitch and I bread everyday since the Games ended.

"Aw well isn't that touching," he says sarcastically, and I shrug my shoulders. "Why don't you just go take off that ridiculous getup and leave us men to this," Haymitch says pointing to the giant hunk of meat on the countertop.

"Let me know if you need a hand," Gale whispers in my ear, and he laughs softly as I blush. I zip upstairs and hope Gale can handle his own in the kitchen with those two.

After dinner we start the 38th Hunger Games. The winner's name is Betee, and Haymitch seems to know him pretty well. He tells us that he's from District 3, and suddenly it explains his thin size and pale complexion. _He must be a tech guy._

We start Beetee's Games, and right away as the Tributes come up through the ground we can see Beetee scanning the arena cautiously. I don't take him for a fighter, but I guess you never know. I would think he knows how to use the technology in the arena with the way he's looking more at the surroundings than the things at the Cornucopia.

When the gong sounds he doesn't fly off his podium. Instead he waits there analyzing the tributes before stepping off and slinking away with some wire, a knife, and a small pack. He opens the pack when he's about a mile away from the Cornucopia and doesn't seem surprised to find a pack of jerky, thin gloves, a pair of pliers, a flashlight, a small blade, and a few other tools that I've never seen before.

The Careers put on a horrifying display at the Cornucopia but once we realize Beetee is long gone we gladly fast forward until Beetee pops up on the screen again. He's meandering through a flat part of the hilly landscape. I can't understand his wandering. He seems more concerned with his surroundings than the kids with death on their minds. If he's so smart why doesn't he head for high ground? Occasionally he digs a small hole in the ground, or thumps on a tree with his ear beside it.

"Haymitch, what's he doing?" I ask after he thumps on the fourth tree.

"He's getting the blueprints," he says. _Getting the blueprints? _

After we stop Beetee's Games for the night, Gale escorts me to my room and comes in. I wonder if he's enjoying breaking our old barriers. At first I didn't know if I was, but now I know that I am at least, although I'd never admit it to him. Our situation is already complicated enough.

"You're so tall," I say. When I'm sitting on my knees on my bed I don't even come up to his shoulders.

"Just noticing that now?" he jokes. "No wonder it takes you so long..."

I shake the teasing off. "How do you even fit in the mine tunnels?

"I don't" Gale laughs gruffly.

"What's it like for you?" I ask.

"I already told you," he says. "Or did you forget?"

"I have had a lot on my mind," I tease, even though it's completely true. "And you told me what the mine is like, but what's it like for you?"

He sits on the bed, and I sit beside him. "Okay, picture how dark it is right now. It's darker than that. When I'm down there, I feel like I'm living almost in total darkness. For me, that's the worst part."

I close my eyes and picture him working in those conditions. It sends a shiver up my spine. Then I feel his lips on mine and I jump. I feel the smile playing on his lips as my breathing calms and I give in as his lips meet mine again.

After a few seconds I pull away. I feel like we could so easily get carried away, and I don't know how to continue with my plan if things get even more complicated. So I start up our conversation again. "How do you stand being down there? I can't even imagine it without my body going cold."

He feels my skin with the back of his hand. "You are cold." He slides his shoes off and shimmies under the covers behind me. He pulls my hips into his body and wraps his arms around me. He's so warm. His breath tickles my neck and shoots an electric pulse through the length of my body.

"All of us hold on to what we're looking forward to doing at the end of the day, or who we'll get to see," he nestles his face at the back of my neck.

"You're very distracted tonight…" I say.

"Well, you're vey distracting," he says.

"If you…" I say. His fingertips draw lines down my bare arm and I lose my train of thought. _Now who's distracted? _I start again. "If you could do anything, what would you do?"

He's quiet for a few moments. "You already know that," he says softly.

I turn over to see his face, to question what I already know he meant. "Still?" I don't find his wish strange at all, in fact I've pondered living in the woods from time to time.

"Yes," he says simply.

"Even with everything that's happened?" I ask.

"Yes," he says confidently. "I would still do it. We should've." He pauses. "I still think about that day."

"Me too," I say without thinking. He's talking about the fleeting moment we had in the cabin. No moment felt more daring than that one, or more promising.

I see his eyes gleam brighter in the moonlight. "Go with me."

I clamp my hand over his mouth, because there's no use in considering it as a possibility, and the Capitol is probably listening to us. I should've seen this coming. I should've steered the conversation away from here. It's far too easy to get into conversations like this with him. Instead of answering, I burrow myself deeper into his warmth. He kisses the top of my head, and I know that's all he will say tonight. I'm half asleep when he rolls out of my bed and whispers something I don't make out.

* * *

**Workout Day 46, Monday:**

_The place I'm in is strange to me. The ground is covered in reddish sand and the climate is unbearably hot and dry. I squint my eyes to look for a water source, but find nothing but a flat clearing filled with sand and hills of sand surrounding me. I blink to moisten my eyes, and see Beetee, the Victor from the last Games, when I open them. He's a hundred yards away from me. I blink and see him as an elderly man. He's either someone else or he's aged in the blink of an eye._

_I shake my head and blink again, and when I open my eyes I see one of the Victors from 1. Again, just like with Beetee, she transforms into an elderly woman. Now Beetee and the other woman are standing on the other side of the clearing were in, both in very old age. This happens again and again until the clearing is full of old Victors. _

_The next time I blink, my mom is 50 yards away, in the middle of the clearing. I'm surprised to see her here, but blink quickly to see what she would look like in her old age. When I open my eyes she has vanished into thin air. I stagger backwards and blink again hoping she'll reappear, but upon opening them I find Prim standing a few feet in front of me. "Prim!" I cry out. I'm equally happy to see her and upset because this is no place for her. She stretches out her hand to me and I meet hers with mine. She feels real even though this place does not. A smile spreads across my face, but then I blink without thinking and suddenly Prim is gone, along with the other Victors. "Prim!" I cry out desperately and am startled with the change in my voice. The tone is rougher. My hand is still stretched out and I realize something's not right. My skin is wrinkled and spotted from age and the sun. I pull it up to my face and feel wrinkles there too. My vision blurs and the sound of the wind has dulled._

_I'm old. Why am I the only one here? Am I the only one left alive?_

Suddenly everything goes black and when I open my eyes they can't adjust to my surroundings. The warm sheets on top of me are the only indicators that I'm at home in my bed. This was all a dream. A crazy, bizarre dream. And like all of the weird dreams, I can't go back to sleep after it.

Since Prim scolded me for my "granny panties" I've been chewing on where the term came from. I've never heard the term granny before, but I know it correlates to grandma, despite never knowing mine. And now that I'm awake I'm adjusting the age of the Victors we've seen, and it's hitting me that they won't look anything like hat we've seen. They will look like grandparents.

I can't fall back asleep, so I get up and walk around my house, and when I get bored of that I look at the stars through my window. Then that turns into walking outside to look at the stars after a half hour and I'm still not tired. I spy a light from Peeta's living room. _Is he watching television?_ _He can't be watching the Games…can he? No, I'll ignore this. What he does in his free time is none of my business._

But it is, and I can't help myself so I walk over to his house and slip inside his front door. He jumps in his seat, startled to see someone he didn't invite in his house during the middle of the night.

"Gosh, Katniss…are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"I'm sorry," I say to him. "I didn't mean to scare you." I look up at the television screen and see that he's watching the interviews from Beetee's Games. "You're watching the interviews?" I question.

He scratches the back of his head. "Uh, yeah..."

"Why?"

"Can't sleep. So, I might as well do something that could help us when I'm awake, right?"

"You do this every night?"

"No, not every night. Just the ones where I lay wide awake. After about an hour I give up and come down here."

I sit down beside him and he hands me a blanket. I throw it over my shoulders and snuggle into the couch. I impulsively consider stretching out and trying to sleep here…but think better of it. We watch the interviews in the same silence as when we watch the Games.

After the interviews are over and the tape starts rolling into the Cornucopia scene again, Peeta gets up, stops the tape, and turns a small lamp on beside the table. Thoughts of having to try to sleep again bring my strange dream to the forefront of my mind, and when Peeta falls back into the couch and I ask, "Did you know your grandparents, Peeta?" It's a question no one really asks in 12 because the answer is usually what Peeta says, "no."

"Did you?" he asks in return.

I shake my head. "I don't really know anyone who still has any grandparents alive..." In fact, there are very few elderly people at all in our district. Greasy Sae is the only grandma I know personally.

Peeta stays quiet for a long while, but finally says, "Do you think that's because of the war?"

I think on that for a moment. "Probably. There were older people in the Capitol though, so maybe part of it's just having a better life," I say glumly.

He breathes out a barely audible "Yeah," and I can tell he's deep in thought. He does this sometimes, when he's forming an opinion or coming up with a game plan. I don't mind the silence so I step away to his kitchen for a midnight snack and join him on the couch again, but he's so lost in thought though that I decide to bid him goodnight and try to sleep again at my house.

It's a restless night, but I manage to have only two more nightmares before waking up to the sunrise. Neither had anything to do with grandparents or Prim disappearing, so I consider it a decent night's sleep. After breakfast we head to the meadow for our yoga day with Madge. We jog a little to warm up, stretch, and settle into our spots as Madge shows us some new positions as well as some different exercises that she calls pillautees or something like that. All I know is that it feels more like working out than the yoga does after two straight hours.

When we break for lunch, I say, "Madge, it looks like it might start raining today or tomorrow. If it is, you can bring the paper to Peeta's house."

"Oh okay. Do you just call it a day when it's raining?" she asks.

"No, we still workout," I say. "Peeta has a workout room upstairs now."

"Oh cool!" she says excitedly.

"Yeah, it is," Peeta chimes in with a big smile.

"No, not cool..." I say.

"Madge, if you bring anything to our houses, you need to make sure you limit what you say," Haymitch says.

"Okay. It actually won't be much different from when I'm home," she says sadly. I never thought about it before, but I guess it makes sense for the mayor's home to be bugged too. It's horribly sad that Madge has always had to be on guard at home. She can never say what she truly thinks. Ever. At least I had our old house and the woods.

After our workout and dinner we go to Peeta's to finish Beetee's Games. There are only 8 Tributes left at this point. He keeps knocking on trees and digging holes so Peeta starts fast-forwarding until Haymitch interjects, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Peeta pushes play and we watch the bizarre display continue with him thumping on rocks and turning up chunks of grass here and there.

"We call him Volts," Haymitch says. "He's a genius, but a little strange."

"Strange? He seems delusional," I say.

Haymitch laughs. "That is one thing he is not."

I frown. He certainly looks like it to me, but Haymitch does know him personally, so I'll believe him.

The action pans around to the Careers who caught the girl from 7 rummaging through the leftover supplies at the Cornucopia. Peeta starts to fast forward but again Haymitch stops him. "I remember something important happened here."

"Well, what was it?" I ask impatiently.

He scowls at me. "I don't remember, I was 5 years old."

"Oh," I say meekly.

"These were the first Games I remembered," he says vacantly.

We all watch a little closer, and when the moment comes we almost miss what happened. The four Careers left, along with the girl from 7, suddenly and inexplicably fall down to the ground and shake slightly. Then the most sickening row of canon blasts follows, and Peeta and I lean forward on the couch in shock.

"What just happened?" I ask. The announcer's voice echoes my words and shortly after, we get an update that the fallen Tributes hearts all stopped at the same time. But how? How could that possibly happen?

The hovercraft comes to get them but there's still no sign of what killed them. When the camera focuses on Beetee once more we see a look of shock on his face too, and if possible he's even paler than usual. He's crouching over something with a pair of pliers in his hand. We get a different view and see a hole in the ground that a medium sized rock had most likely covered up. I'd love to see what he was doing when the attention turned to the Career pack.

Beetee maneuvers his tools in and out of the hole but we never get a close-up inside the hole to see what he's doing. It's strange to have an obstructed view since the Capitol prides themselves on sticking cameras and microphones everywhere a Tribute might possibly go.

"Haymitch?"

He holds up his hand to shush me. "He's almost done, sweetheart." _Almost done with what?_

I inch forward even more and prepare myself for answers of the unsolved mystery. Beetee wipes his brow, takes a deep breath, and makes one final adjustment inside the hole. Immediately after, the camera pans to the final two Tributes. They're being chased by a pack of muttation birds with long, sharp talons. They dove bomb the Tributes ripping their flesh while the Tributes flee from them.

The screen splits into two and I'm confused why until I see the same muttations attacking Beetee. He runs from them in a zig zag pattern and ducks away from most of the birds, but gets sliced here and there.

All of the Tributes are starting to lose a fair amount of blood, but the pair of Tributes isn't zig zagging like Beetee, and by sheer blood loss the first one falls down. The swarm of birds claw at her until the canon sounds and then the mutts turn on the boy. One of the birds swoops towards his legs and rips at his ankles. He stumbles and can't keep up his pace, and eventually succumbs to the mutts.

The final canon sounds and the pack of mutts attacking Beetee fly away from the tattered, frightened, bloody mess of a boy. Beetee is the victor, and I have so many questions about him now. Haymitch just sighs, sensing my onslaught of questions.

"Was he behind that Cornucopia massacre?" I ask Haymitch.

"Yes." I open my mouth to ask "how?" but Haymitch keeps going. "He didn't know anyone was by the Cornucopia when he was doing that. He just rigged the electricity so that if anyone wandered over there for supplies they would be zapped."

"That's why he's called Volts?" I ask, and Haymitch nods. "But _how_ did he do it?" I know I'm begging for answers, but that was rather impressive. He took out five Tributes in a second. And he wasn't even in the immediate area.

Haymitch shrugs his shoulders. "He's from 3. Who knows how they pick that stuff up."

"He sounds pretty dangerous to me," Peeta says.

"No kidding," Haymitch says sarcastically.

"Did he really send the mutts on them?" I ask.

Haymitch nods. "Paid the price for that one, since everyone put two and two together. The Capitol was able to play off the zapping as a Gamemaker trap, but everyone watched him set those mutts loose."

"How was that even possible?"

"You'll have to ask him, sweetheart," he says. "He's the genius."

* * *

**Workout Day 47, Tuesday:**

Today it starts raining before we even get to the meadow, so we turn around and head back to Peeta's to workout there until the rain clears. We warm up on the treadmills, and after our usual mile jog Peeta tells us we should keep running a few more miles.

In the middle of my last mile my foot catches the side of the treadmill, and I fall off. I examine myself internally for any points of pain, but I'm not hurt. Peeta laughs after he sees that I'm not hurt, so I kick at his prosthetic and down he goes too. I smile at him and he gives me a scowl. _Haymitch and I must be rubbing off on him after all._

Haymitch laughs at both of us, so I swipe at his legs with my arm but he grabs the rails and bends his legs up so all I hit is air. He thinks that's all he has to watch out for and chuckles with a stupid smirk on his face. Aggravated, I grab one of the towels Peeta keeps in here, twist it up, and look at Peeta to make sure he keeps quiet. Then I sneak attack and whack Haymitch's butt with all the force and snap I can get through the towel. He jumps and grabs the cheek I hit squealing in pain, or maybe just shock. He almost falls off the treadmill too, but I feel better now that I had the last laugh.

At lunch we watch the weather to see if we can finish up outside, but it's still raining so we lift weights in Peeta's workout room until we're exhausted. During dinner, my mom serves collard greens as our vegetable and all our faces go green just looking at them.

"Mom..." I look up at her questioningly.

"What?" she says looking at me with surprise.

"There are dozens of vegetables in the district and you chose collard greens...?" I ask, trying to keep the whine out of my voice.

"You have to at least one helping," she lifts her eyebrows at me, showing her authority.

"Yes, mom," I concede.

Haymitch snickers at me so I serve him a bigger serving of the nasty green slop than he originally took. He scowls at me, but gives my mom a quick smile when he senses that she's watching us.

We start with the collard greens. We've all eaten them so we know they're a little better while warm. When we've finished the pork chops and rolls my mom peeks into the collard greens dish and sees that it's the only thing left on the table with one serving left.

"Prim?" my mom asks holding up the dish of greens.

She shakes her little head, and looks over at me. A wicked smile creeps up her face as she realizes that I will never turn down food. Things were always so scarce.

"Katniss needs all the vitamins she can get," Prim says sweetly, knowing full well she's got me cornered.

"Oh, of course," she says apologetically. "Here you go hunny."

I watch in horror as the rest of the greens slop onto my plate. "Thanks, mom," I say quietly. This time I hear Peeta snickering along with Haymitch. I eat them up as quickly as I can, and when I'm done I walk over to Peeta's before either of them get up. They step inside a minute after I sprawl out on the large couch.

Peeta doesn't see me, and he must have thought I went to go see Gale, because he swings himself over the couch and lands directly on top of me. We both scream. "Get off of me!" I push him off.

"Jeez, Katniss, what we're you doing?" Peeta asks, more startled than anything. "Are you okay?" He starts checking me for an injury.

"I'm fine," I sigh. "You scared me is all. What we're you doing throwing yourself over the couch like that?"

"I'm sorry. The next time I'm flying through the air I'll be sure to make sure you're not directly underneath me, so that I don't land on you," he says sarcastically.

"Ha ha," I say.

Peeta turns on the television and we start watching the 39th Hunger Games. The Victor is a District 5 male who was 15 when he won. His name is Jarod The arena that year literally became the "Hunger Games" because it has food all over the place but to earn it you have to fight off the mutts who appear when the food is disturbed. So after the bloodbath there was no shortage of bloody deaths for the Capitol to watch. The Gamemakers didn't even put food in the packs at the Cornucopia, so the Careers are left as hungry as everyone else.

The Tributes wise up to the Gamemakers plot pretty quickly though, well at the least the ones that survive the mutt attacks. They rely on sponsor gifts or choose hunger over food and day 4 and 5 goes by without a single kill by a Tribute. The announcers get restless with the lack of violence coming from the children, and it makes me sick hearing their complaints.

The feast usually doesn't happen until a week past the start of the Games, but on day 6 they make the announcement since no one has been killed in almost a full day. All of the 6 Tributes left try their luck at the feast, but when they get there they seem to forget about the food and realize their torment could be over in a matter of minutes, so they start fighting each other. Each had a weapon since the Cornucopia was littered with them this year, and they overtake each other quickly with their lack of strength. They're all so weak from starvation that one blow can knock them to the ground. The Careers kill a majority of the other Tributes, but Jarod sneaks away as soon as the killing starts. It comes down to the Careers fighting him and each other but when the boy from 1 and the boy from 2 realize they heard 3 canons instead of 4 they stop fighting. They make some sort of truce, and set off quickly to follow Jarod since they knew he must be close.

He was close too. He scurried up a tree about a hundred yards from the Cornucopia, and waits with his knife. The Careers come close and he hollers down at them.

"Well he's certainly not afraid of a fight then, is he?" I say absently.

"Yeah, I thought he was the way he ran from the group as soon as the fighting began," Peeta says.

"He's smart," Haymitch says and we look up at him. "He saw what was going to happen, and he let them take out the rest so he could save his strength."

I nod. That is smart. I hope I would think to do the same thing. The boy from 2 starts climbing up at him just like Cato did when I was treed last year. Jarod didn't climb high though, and he's not scurrying away. He clenches the knife and prepares for hand-to-hand combat in the tree. When the boy from 2 reaches him, he's exhausted. It seems the starvation, fighting, and climbing have taken a toll on his body, despite how strong he is. Jarod leaps off his branch and falls down onto him square in the gut. It knocks the wind out of him and he's able to slice his neck without having to defend himself. Jarod pushes him out of the tree and beckons the boy from 1 to come up.

The boy from 1 is angry to see his friend go down, but sees his chance to win and starts climbing. He's not as weak when he reaches Jarod and he has a sword, which is a clear advantage in a tree. He swipes at Jarod's leg and catches it, eliciting a scream. It sets Jarod off and he throws the knife at the boy from 1. It sticks in his back, but doesn't kill him. He pulls it out and climbs higher, thinking Jarod is weaponless now, but Jarod pulls some wire from his pants pocket. The boy from 1 slashes his leg again, and Jarod instinctively kicks at the weapon. It works, and the weapon falls to the ground. The boy from 1 panics, climbs out on a branch, and hangs from it so he can drop to the ground, but Jarod flies over to him, throws the wire around his neck and pulls it tight. About a minute later the boy from 1 falls to the ground and his canon sounds.

District 5. Power. "He must have worked on the power lines in his District," I say, and Peeta jots that down in his notebook before we bid each other goodnight and prepare for tonight's nightmares.

* * *

**Workout Day 48, Wednesday:**

It's raining again today, so we workout in Peeta's in-home workout facility. Again. _Isn't it supposed to be summer weather? It's June after all.. _

By the end of the morning we're all getting antsy from working out in such a small space. Madge shows up with her father's paper, and catches us laying down on the mats relaxing from our run on the treadmill.

"What time is it?" Peeta asks her.

"It's noon," she smiles. "That's when you normally break for lunch. But I can come back," she offers.

"No, no, I just lost track of time," Peeta says, getting up and then helping me up.

We form a sandwich assembly line and are eating in no time. Haymitch and Peeta talk and eat in the kitchen, while Madge and I eat at Peeta's dining room table, much like we did in high school. Questions form here and there. Silence ensues. A rush of old memories fill my brain as my days in high school play out in my mind.

She breaks my thought with a bizarre question. "Have you watched Finnick's Games yet?" she asks casually, chomping on her sandwich.

I smile. "Not yet." I know she wants to see Finnick if she's asking about his Games specifically. I file that away for later, and determine to let her know when we do.

We read the newspaper after lunch and there's an article that talks about a greater need for coal. The reporter says that coal production has gone down, but I know that's not accurate since that would be rather huge news in our District. So what's the real reason for the article then? Is the coal not making it to the Capitol? Do they really need more for some reason? The article troubles all of us, but we don't talk about it openly in Peeta's house.

We know what this will mean for our District. The Capitol will work our miners harder than ever, despite the dangerous conditions. The mines had to shut down early yesterday after a mining accident, and I can't imagine what the rain would do to the mine tunnels if it got wet enough down there. It could cause a bigger accident. Will they really push to increase production? How will they get more coal out of our exhausted miners?

All I know is that this article is only going to serve to bring more tension to the District, and a worse situation for Gale. For the first time, I actually want the Games to be here and done with faster, because maybe the faster I die, the quicker others may live.

* * *

**Workout Day 49, Thursday:**

"What should we do today, Katniss?" Peeta asks me after breakfast.

I look outside, and see the rain clouds but no rain. "Let's go to the meadow," I say cheerfully. I need to get out of the house. I can't stand being confined inside.

When we get there we immediately notice how the ground sloshes when we walk on it. Our warm up jog has never spritzed mud onto our legs before, but by the end of our mile we have mud streaks on our shins and calves.

"Well I guess that means sprinting is out for today," I say.

"Why?" Peeta asks.

I motion with my arms at the soggy ground. Peeta thinks it over.

"Maybe we should," he says finally.

"What?" I ask.

"Well, think about it, Katniss. We don't know what kind of terrain they're going to have for the Quell. What if it's wet...and we didn't practice here when we had the chance...and we keep slipping while we're there...and"

I interrupt him. "Okay, let's do it."

He seems confused that I gave in so easily, but goes to my old house to retrieve the sprinting lines. Haymitch and I stretch in the meantime, and when he gets back we help him set up the lines.

We jog another warm-up lap around the meadow to get used to the ground before we start sprinting. We sprint again and again, so many times that after about a dozen sprints the ground starts getting torn up and muddy. After a few dozen sprints with all of us, we pair off and race against each other, having little competitions and hardly even realizing when it starts sprinkling on us. After it's become clear that I will always win in a sprint we realize this spot in the meadow is too muddy, so we place the lines on a non-muddy patch and continue with our sprints. After a dozen sprints in the new spot the ground is as muddy as the first spot, and we suddenly realize the sprinkling has turned into raining. We were getting so hot from the running that we didn't take in the rain as the thing that was cooling us off.

"Let's go home," I tell the boys, after we look around and wonder what else we could really do with the muddy meadow in the rain.

A boy comes up and asks us, "what we're you doing?" as we walk through Town.

"Oh, just running around in the meadow," Peeta says and gives the boy an easy smile. He must know him.

"That sounds fun!" he says before darting off. A boy who likes mud, that's not a surprise.

We make it back to my house, eat lunch, and then realize that we left the lines out there in the meadow. If there's any way to salvage them from the mess out there we decide we better go back now and put them away. When we make it there we couldn't be more surprised at what we find. Kids are running all around the meadow, sliding through the mud, and tackling each other.

"Well, what now?" I ask.

Peeta shrugs and smiles at me, "when you can't beat 'em, join 'em," he says and races off to slide in the mud alongside the boy he talked to in town today. Haymitch stalks off towards the tree to keep away from the madness, which leaves me on the edge of the mud pit that used to be our meadow.

"Nissy!" Posy cries from the pack of muddy kids. The Hawthorne boys look up too, and smile at me. They are covered in mud from head to toe. _What a surprise_. Posy runs towards me and flings herself into my body. I fall over with her clutching me, and she laughs when she sees how muddy I get when I land in the mud. I dot her nose with it and she squirms and says, "Eww...Nissy stop!" I start tickling her and she giggles uncontrollably.

"Gale!" she shouts happily when she sees him coming up to us. She runs into his arms, and he picks her up and she dots his nose with mud, like I did to hers. He laughs for her, and looks back at me laying in a big pile of mud.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. "Shouldn't you be at the mine?"

"They had to close it today," he says happily. "There was an accident on the west side, and they had to shut down to determine the stability. By the end of that they deemed it an 'unfit work environment.'"

He offers me his hand and pulls me up, except he pulls so hard I jump into him. He loses his balance on the slippery mud and falls down with both of Posy and I in his arms. Posy screams and laughs, thinking this is the best game in the world. She doesn't often get to play with both Gale and me at the same time, and she surprises both of us when she wiggles in between us.

She calms down for a bit, and Gale looks up at me with a dreamy, far off look in his eyes, and I know what he's thinking. _We could do it you know...take off, live in the woods...I might have kids some day._

He's envisioning the family we could have. A girl like Posy or Prim, and maybe a boy too. I bet he would look exactly like Gale. And for the moment I forget about the Quell, and just imagine what Gale's family will be like. I can see a boy who is the spitting image of Gale. That much is clear, and maybe there's also a tiny girl clinging to his leg as he walks around with her attached to him, just like Posy does. But I can't see who his wife will be. Maybe it would have been me, but the woman I see beside him is a blurry figure and I don't want to think about who it will be. I come back down to reality and know without a shadow of a doubt it won't be me. Gale sees the change in my expression and stares hard at me and then lifts his eyes to the fence. _We could do it you know...we should have gone. It's not too late...We could still make it,_ his eyes say.

"This stinks," Posy says about the mud, interrupting our telepathy. She gets up and stomps away from the mud. She stops when she sees we're not following her, and goes back to "pull us up" so we can keep playing with her. I break away to go see Madge, who showed up too and is now watching the mud fest from the safety of the tree with Haymitch.

"I saw it," says Madge with a twinkle in her eye.

"Saw what?" I ask and start looking around for what she saw.

She laughs and nods at Gale. I look at him, and it's clear from his face that I just caught him staring at me.

"You're the envy of every girl I know," she says with a smile.

"Really? Every girl wants to be sent to the Quell?" I say sarcastically. She pushes me playfully and goes back to talking with Haymitch.

Gale walks over to me. "Your mom's going to get a lot of business today, huh?" I say contentedly, looking at the muddy kids.

He nods with a smile on his face. "Now it won't just be your stinky clothes she washes," he teases.

"If you don't want me to bring my clothes over I don't have to," I say.

"I didn't say that," he says, coming in closer to me.

"Gale?" I look at the kids from all over the District here. He sighs and walks away to where Posy is playing with Rory, picking her up and swinging her in the air.

After all the kids have gone home for dinner, we take off for home too. Gale veers off towards his house when we are walking through the Seam.

"What are you doing?" I ask dumbfounded. He always comes with us.

He looks himself up and down and laughs, "I need to shower, Catnip."

I walk over to him, since Peeta and Haymitch decided to wait for me. "You can shower at my house," I say.

"Tempting," Gale lifts an eyebrow quick as lightning, "but I need fresh clothes, and your house is full of girl clothes."

"Will you come over after?" I try to sound casual, but it comes off more hopeful than I'd like it to.

He grins at me, "Sure, after dinner."

I furrow my eyebrows at him. "Come for dinner."

He looks at me with an irritated look. "Catnip..."

I huff. "Fine, come over after."

"Of course," he smiles, and his teeth are so white compared to his muddy face I can't help but laugh. "Oh, you think you're cleaner than me?" he says, rubbing my cheeks with his muddy hands. "There, now we match."

After dinner we start the 41st Hunger Games. Gale's not here yet, but Peeta didn't want to wait for him to get here, so we started the tape right away. The Victor is from District 3, and Haymitch mentions to us that he's almost as clever as Beetee. The boy's name is Linus.

We hear the door swing open and don't even turn to see who it is. The silent footfall is enough for me to know it's Gale, even if he hadn't told me he would come over.

He bounces down on the couch from exhaustion and I fly up into the air a little, spilling milk on my pants. I frown at him, but then I notice his tired, worried face is so I don't say anything. A few minutes later I hear his stomach growl and my eyes snap over to him. He ignores me, but we both know his dinner was not enough to fill his stomach. I bet his meager lunch barely sustains him through the day. So, I hand him my share of brownies and milk because I'm sure he probably gave half his dinner to one of the kids. Posy suckers him out of food all the time, and she doesn't even mean to.

"Catnip, I know what you're doing..." he says, eyeing the snack leerily.

"Oh just go with it, kid," Haymitch gripes. "She's trying to make all of us fat."

"Am not," I say defensively. "Although wouldn't you look adorable with chubby cheeks…" I tease Haymitch. He responds with a mean grimace and goes back to eating his brownies. Gale refuses to take the plate, so I end up just dumping them quickly onto his lap and jumping up to take the plate away to the kitchen, grabbing some rolls and cheese buns and stacking them high on the plate. When I come back two of the brownies are gone, and I smile discreetly. I put the plate of bread on my lap, but closer to Gale, and I notice them go missing one-by-one throughout the Games.

It's actually not too difficult to watch these Games because Linus is so intelligent that he hardly gets his hands dirty and there's very little gore. I admire his cleverness, but it freaks me out to think how easy it is for him to end lives from a distance. He uses the arena against the other Tributes by destroying the land's resources. But he waits until the action in the Games slows so the Capitol allows it.

"Was Beetee his mentor?" I ask Haymitch. He nods, and I get it. He taught him how to time his actions so the Capitol would be intrigued just enough to leave him alone for the most part. It's not often we see a clever Tribute make it this far, and I think it must have stunned the Capitol a little after watching so many brutish Careers become Victors.

However, the more I watch the strengths of all the Victors, it saddens me to realize that the Capitol drives each District into a specific industry and then forces them to use what they know to destroy the Tributes from other Districts. Driven and exploited just to use the life-giving skills from their District's industry to end lives. It's even more heartbreaking to watch someone as intelligent as this Victor use their brilliant mind to end lives. I think of how easily this knowledge could save lives instead of end them, and it makes me cringe.

Out of the corner of my eye I look at Gale and wonder what he would have been like in the arena. Would he have been like this Victor? Or would he have been like a Career? Maybe he would be something entirely different, a combination of all his survivor skills and charm, which is the most likely option. Or maybe it's just the one I like to believe in because when this rebellion reaches 12 he _will_ fight, and sooner than he realizes, he's going to have to grapple with the _way_ he fights.

I wonder what will become of him when I'm gone. Will he forget who he is and let his rage consume him? Will he be able to determine right from wrong? I'll never really know. I'll be gone, obliterated, dead, in a couple months. Where will he be?

* * *

**Workout Day 50, Friday:**

When we get to the Victors Village after our workout today I get the feeling that something is wrong. I walk inside, and I find that I was right, unfortunately. It seems while we were working out someone from the District was whipped. He was brought to my mother, but he didn't make it, despite her best efforts. Prim is crying in a corner, and my mom is talking with the woman who I assume is his widow.

"Take them, please," she pleads with my mom and tries to force the small set of cups into her hands. "I can't afford to pay you for your services."

"You don't need to," my mom says, refusing the instruments. Everyone in 12 knows that they aren't expected to pay for my mom and Prim's services.

"I have no use for them anymore," the widow says quietly. My mom doesn't counter her again, and instead I see silent tears drop down both of their cheeks. This is all she needed to say for my mom to fall back into her sorrow, enveloped by memories of my father and happier times. The woman places the instruments in Prim's hands and makes her way to the door.

It's a beautiful gift to give us. The widow is the one who needs comforting, and she chooses to give us a gift that heals? She could have sold these and made a little money for them...I run out of the house and give her a purse with as many coins as I can find. She pushes them away at first saying the instruments were gifts, but I tell her "so is this" and finally she relents.

Prim cleans the cups and asks us through her tears if she can treat our sore muscles. I could never say no to her anyways, but when she cries I'm a goner. She uses them on me first. She instructs me to lay down on her table with my shirt pulled up to my neck. She told me I could take it all the way off, but I didn't want to. She puts a little oil on my back, which is cold at first but as she rubbed it in it felt great. Then she placed one of the cups on my back.

"Katniss, have you ever had these used on you before?" she asks in between choking from the crying. Poor thing.

"No, will it hurt?" I ask.

"No, well maybe a little," she says honestly. "But let me know if it's too much."

"I trust you, little duck," I say.

She makes an adjustment on the cup, which suctions my skin into the cup. It's a strange feeling. She moves it up the length of my spin and back down in different areas. "How are you doing? Is this okay?" she asks after a few moments.

"Yeah, it is," I say. It's slightly painful, but it's a wonderful pain, the kind you wish to avoid but wouldn't put a stop to if you had the choice, like when you get a pain in your mouth and your tongue gravitates to the area.

Peeta walks into the room shortly after. His eyes fly open and he points to my back. "Prim! Why does she have those bruises? Katniss, what happened?"

"Bruises?" I ask in alarm. I shouldn't have bruises. Marks yes, bruises no. Cupping leaves marks on your skin.

"Katniss...Peeta," Prim says soothingly. "These marks are temporary. They'll probably all be gone soon."

When it's Peeta and Haymitch's turn to try Prim's cupping methods, I grab a bag of our filthy clothes from yesterday, and the soiled ones from the week and trudge over to Gale's with the heavy bag over my shoulders. I'm saddened when I find out Gale's not back from the mines yet. I timed this out so I could meet him here. Usually he's back by now.

"Why isn't he home yet?" I ask Hazelle as she eyes the mud all over my clothes. I blush when she looks at me with the look I've seen on her face before. That same look that she gave me when I came back from the Games and she told me Gale liked to save Sundays for me.

"I don't know. Usually he's back by now. Not to worry though, I'm sure everything is okay," she gives me a small smile. She worries about his safety just like I do.

Rory comes bouncing into the kitchen a second later. "Where's Prim?" he asks, looking around and seeing that I'm the only one who brought the laundry this week.

"She's being a masseuse right now," I say, remembering the feeling of the cups on my back.

"Masseuse?" he asks, confused.

"She treats our muscles when they get sore. I went first because I had to drop off the laundry."

"Who's she massaging now?" he asks anxiously.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Peeta and Haymitch."

Rory's face goes hard. I look at Hazelle for an explanation, but she just smiles discreetly, and for the first time I start to wonder if Rory has a crush on Prim.

Gale comes in a few minutes later as I'm pulling coins out to pay Hazelle, and I instantly can feel that something is wrong. His face is angrier than I've seen it in months. "What's wrong?" Hazelle asks.

"There's been a change in the mines. We'll be working seven days a week now."

"12 hours a day still?" I ask, shocked. There are going to be a lot more tired miners, but worse than that, more collapses, more accidents, and more deaths. I gulp.

He just nods his head. I can tell he's pissed and doesn't feel like he can vent with his mom and Rory around. He looks at me with his sharp grey eyes and I can tell he needs to let it out. So I head out the door and he follows me. His family doesn't even bat an eye. They know he needs this too.

Alright, here we go...I settle in for a long session of Gale's angry, biting remarks against the Capitol but for some reason he holds it in. It's confusing and I know instantly that this is even worse than I thought because he hasn't said anything yet. I don't press it though. We walk through the Seam, then through town, then we make it to the Victors Village, and I feel relieved thinking he's planning on eating a more satisfying dinner with us. That is...until he heads straight towards Haymitch's house. I'm so confused that I'm left standing at the bottom of the steps while he bursts right in the front door.

I follow him after a few seconds pass, but I can't find them inside. They're not in the kitchen, or the dining room, or the living room. I hear voices downstairs though so I head that way. I finally find them in a room with one overhead light on and so many piles of disgusting clothes and dusty boxes that you would never know Hazelle cleans this house. It's as if this entire room was forgotten decades ago. When they hear me come in they look at me briefly before going back to their conversation. This whole turn of events is strange...

"Who'd the change come from?" Haymitch asks.

"Thread announced it at the end of the day," Gale replies.

"How'd it go over?" he asks Gale.

Gale huffs and scowls at him like the answer was obvious.

But Haymitch lifts his eyebrows slightly before they knit back together in a concentrated scowl. "Mind the tone down there," he says, giving Gale's shoulder a slap before turning to head back upstairs completely ignoring me as he walks past me to the stairwell. I look at Gale confused, but his sharp eyes let me know he's not done venting. I don't understand this new step though. He's _never_ told Haymitch anything like that before. He's never _talked_ to Haymitch before I was a Victor. My eyes question his and he comes over to me and surprises me by pulling me into a hug. A tight, intimate hug. I almost feel his emotions transfer to me, and it sets me off kilter.

When he leaves to go for another walk I follow without asking any questions. When we get to his house he hugs me again, just as tightly as in Haymitch's house but doesn't let go right away. I feel him breathe into my hair, and I know he's trying to put together something to tell me, to explain his anger at the Capitol and frustration with the state of the District. But I understand him without the words, so I lift my head off his chest and kiss his lips. He pulls me in tighter and kisses me harder. He stops the kiss before I'm ready.

"Can't have everyone wondering about you and me," he explains when he sees the confusion on my face, looking off at the other houses around his, and then he disappears inside with a sad smile. And I'm left standing on his doorstep with a racing heart and muddled thoughts.

During the 42nd Hunger Games we see a boy tribute popping corn kernels to distract people from getting too close to him. Most of the tributes had never seen corn being popped before, including me. I had no idea that could be done. After the scared off Tributes leave he eats white, fluffy balls.

"Haymitch, what is that?" I ask, intrigued.

"It's popcorn," he says. "You've never had it?"

I shake my head.

* * *

**Workout Day 51, Saturday:**

"So what are we doing today, Peeta?" I ask sleepily.

"We're going to try karate today," Peeta says.

I furrow my eyebrows at him, "Karaaat-eee?" I ask. I've never heard of this, and I don't always like the exercises Peeta makes us do.

"No, it's pronounced karat-ay," Haymitch says to me.

Peeta sighs. "I asked Effie, and she pronounced it karate," he says.

"Oh, and you think Trinket's always right, huh?" Haymitch asks Peeta.

"When has she been wrong about something?" Peeta asks. Haymitch looks like he's about to explode, but Peeta interjects before he spews out a long list of "Effie's wrongdoings." "And being stupid doesn't count as her being wrong."

Haymitch just looks like he got a cork stuck in his mouth. He's raising his arms like he wants to shake Peeta.

After our jog Peeta and I sit down on the grass so were facing each other and start stretching out muscles. We start by placing our legs in a V formation in front of our chests and place our feet together so our legs form a square. We don't have to lean in very far for our muscles to feel the tight, stringy burn. We continue stretching, balancing with each other, and allowing each other to pull our limbs this way and that way. It's something we've learned to trust each other with, along with everything else.

Once our muscles are fully stretched out Peeta stands in front of Haymitch and I, and tells us to follow his lead. He punches and kicks the air, and Haymitch and I stand there thinking that he looks ridiculous.

"Guys!" Peeta reprimands us.

"What's the point of all this?" I ask. "You look silly."

"The point is to get better form," he replies.

"Oh and are you now an expert on kara-tay?" Haymitch asks.

"I know more than you," he says.

"How?" Haymitch asks.

"I watched a video," Peeta says.

"When you couldn't sleep?" I ask him. He gives me a wink.

"Don't you guys want to do something different for a change?" Peeta asks. "I know I do."

Haymitch grumbles but we agree because it is nice to have some more variety this week, especially with those rainy days where we were stuck inside.

All day long we do a series of kicks, punches, squats, hops, leg and arm rotations, and lo and behold more push-ups. I was thinking this karaaatee stuff wasn't so bad until Peeta made me do a bunch of those. These were worse than the normal ones because Peeta made us try to push up balancing on our knuckles.

The walk back to Victors Village takes a little longer than usual because our bodies are already sore from the new workout. _It looks like Prim's got her work laid out for her today._ Instead of her using the cups on us though, like we all hoped she would, she orders us to soak for 15 minutes in hot water, which we do in our respective homes. I only soaked for 10 minutes though because dinner smelled so good that my stomach started grumbling. My mom made roasted chicken that she served with a smoky, sweet sauce, mashed potatoes, asparagus and carrots. Halfway through dinner we hear a knock on the door. My mother goes to answer it, thinking it's a patient, and is surprised to find one of the Hawthorne boys.

"Rory?" she asks.

"Hi Mrs. Everdeen. I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner," he says looking over her shoulder at us eating. "I just came to drop off your laundry."

"That's very kind of you," she ushers him inside with the bag of clean clothes. "You didn't have to bring it all the way here though. Prim and I were going to pick it up tomorrow."

"Oh." He sneaks a glance over at Prim who blushes but goes back to eating. "It's just...my mom has a lot of extra laundry this week and we're happy to have all the extra business, so I'm delivering the laundry myself."

My mom nods. "You should stay for dinner," she says.

He fumbles with his clothing. "No, I can't. Thank you though. I should get back home." _It's tough work getting a Hawthorne to stay for a meal. _

"Rory, we have too much, really. You won't stay?" she asks again. He looks at the food but shakes his head. "Well, then take some back with you," he opens his mouth to decline that offer too, but she keeps going, "as payment for the laundry delivery. I won't take no for answer, young man."

He reluctantly agrees, and quick as a flash Prim is up and in the kitchen putting together as much food as she can find to send along with him. I smile at her, and think _maybe I should have been watching these two a little closer._ I get up to put in some special food as well. Peeta's fresh rolls and butter. Cheese and sliced ham. Our whole dessert for the evening. Prim is done before me, and Rory tries to leave with only the food she packaged, but I grab his shirt and yank him back. I look over at him, and he looks down at all the extra food and gives me a small smirk. In that moment he looks exactly like Gale. I send him away with almost as big of a load as he came in with. Gale is going to be maaaad. Oh well.

After dinner we start watching the 43rd Games. The winner is from District 1, and her name is Crystal. Haymitch isn't here yet, so we wait for him. When he finally arrives with a big bowl in his arms. He walks past and I get a whiff of butter and salt.

"What is that, Haymitch?" I ask, trying to peek inside the bowl. He hugs it tighter and away from me. He lifts a white ball from the bowl to his mouth. I crane my neck. _So it's food..._

"Do you trust me?" he asks.

"I trust you with my life, you dimwit," I tell him.

He raises his eyebrows at my insult, but then says, "catch," and tosses a piece from the bowl at my mouth and catch it in my mouth. I slowly chew it and realize that it's actually tastes pretty good. The texture is strange, but I like it still.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Popcorn," he says with a smile and gives me the bowl before he sits in his chair.

I devour half the bowl before Peeta snatches it from me to divide it up and give us each a bowl to eat out of. So civilized. I scowl at him but it just makes him laugh.

We all eat it as we watch the Games, that is...in between killings. I can't eat while watching people die. It's disgusting to me to even think of eating during that, as if I'll transform into some heartless person from the Capitol.

**AN: Bet you thought you had her outfit all figured out huh? :D Did I surprise any of you? ****If you liked a certain moment I'd love to know it ;) Hope you enjoyed! Please review!**

Anonymous review replies:

Extreme Wanderlust: I wanted to say thank you for the kind review. I'm glad you find the story realistic, because even though I have fun with the characters I strive for everything to still be realistic. Thanks.

blop: thank you for your review! Such a nice review to get! Many of your ideas have already been written so I hope you'll enjoy them as you see them :D thank you for all the ideas though!

willow hawthorne: thank you for your review! I'm glad you like the story so far. You'll see more and more intimate galeniss scenes as they delve deeper into their relationship and closer to the Quell. The real zingers come in the final chapter ;)

Jill and Elle: thank you for your reviews! I plan on writing much, much more :)


	10. Cornucopia

**Chapter 9: Cornucopia**

**AN: A big thank you to my reviewers: no-oneimportant, Jerry Side, Pinklove21, ShortySC22, Ms. Random, moonlight goose, To be a rebel, Celtic Angel18, charliesunshine, Ellenka, and clara0414. It's very encouraging to see continual reviews. A big thank you also to the ones who just started reading and reviewed as you went, as well as those who put this on alert or favorited the story. All of your reviews were incredibly kind, but Ellenka, as always my dear, you stole my heart with yours :D I'd happily be your couch haha!**

**Big, big thank you to Pinklove21 again for her wonderful plot for Chaff's Games. I was fresh out of ideas and she gave me a ton. Thank you! I hope you like how it turned out :)**

**Italics are for dreams, inner monologues, or Galeniss telepathy ;) Anything you recognize is from Suzanne Collins. This chapter contains the ****only**** (I kid you not) quotes from this part of CF. I hope I did the conversation justice, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Workout Day 52, Sunday:**

The reaping is exactly one month away from today.

The reality of the approaching deadline is starting to hit me. Even my subconscious doesn't let up. My dreams last night we're about the reaping, which is strange because usually they take place in an arena…but there I was up on the stage by the Justice Building, reaped for the Quell. The stage floor gave way and I fell into complete darkness. For minutes, maybe hours I fell. At least it felt like it. I woke up before I hit anything, but it took me a minute to catch my breath and untangle myself from the covers.

Now as I stare at myself in the mirror in my room I wonder what exactly awaits me in a month. Will Cinna and Portia make Peeta and I stand out again at the parade? Will I get a high or low training score? What will Peeta get? Will the arena help or hinder us? Will we get any sponsors? There are so many unanswered questions, but all I can do right now is prepare to my fullest, so I go downstairs and begin our daily routine for the 52nd day in a row. In 31 days there won't be any more secretive training and we'll have to be ready.

With the fact that Gale isn't joining us today, coupled with my anxiety over the reaping, it's no surprise that I'm in an awful mood. All morning I'm moving slower and making snide remarks to anyone who speaks to me. Breakfast drags on, and I don't even feel like asking Peeta what we'll be doing today, since we probably won't be practicing our snares anymore.

"Prim?" Haymitch whispers after Peeta takes his plate into the kitchen. She goes over to Haymitch, and he whispers in her ear. I can't make out anything he's saying, but my little duck scrunches her face after he stops talking and she looks over at me hesitantly.

_"Haymitch...what did you say to her?_" my eyes warn him. Prim shakes her head in response to him and scurries off to the kitchen. I follow her.

"Prim, what did Haymitch say?" I ask.

Her eyes dart away like she feels guilty for even being part of the conversation.

"It's okay. I'm not going to get mad at you," I tell her. I have a feeling I'll get mad at Haymitch though…

She speaks so quietly at first I can barely hear her. "He asked me to do something for him…that's all!" she cries out suddenly. I can tell she thinks she's going to get in trouble.

"What did he ask you to do?" I ask calmly. I look back at the dining room table to question Haymitch, but he's already outside. Little sneak.

"He asked me to get him…some alcohol," she replies cautiously with bugged out eyes.

"He did what?!" I yell. I see Prim take a quick breath and grit her teeth. She knew how I'd react, but I'm not mad at her. Unfortunately, I'm too angry with Haymitch to reassure her of that before I fly out the door to go after him. To my surprise he's not anywhere in sight. But Peeta is, and he looks worried when he sees how upset I am.

"Where. Is. He?" I ask Peeta while scanning the area for Haymitch.

"He left for the meadow already," Peeta says. "He didn't want to wait for you, but I-"

I cut him off. "Come on!" I say to him, grab his hand, and sprint to the meadow. I'm nearly dragging Peeta after a while. He can't go as fast as I can on a straight path, especially when I'm angry.

When we get to the meadow I run at Haymitch. "How could you ask her to buy you alcohol?" I snap.

"I just asked if she had any on hand," he says.

"She's too young to buy that!"

"Ah, she'd be fine."

"If you ever-"

"Quiet!" Peeta interjects, stepping in between Haymitch and I. "This isn't doing us any good." He turns to Haymitch, "Now you won't ever ask Prim to get you alcohol ever again, will you?"

Haymitch sighs but nods his head. Peeta continues, "And you," he turns around to face me, "should be running by now," he says with raised eyebrows. The unforeseen switch to workout mode throws me off, but he puts on a scowl, which I've come to know as Peeta's get-to-business face, so I sigh and start jogging. _Is it good or bad that Haymitch and I are rubbing off on him?_

I look around the meadow, which is still torn up from the mud sliding last week, and depression sets in that Gale isn't coming today. No smiles from his handsome face. No laughter to break up the silence. No brushes from his fingers as he teaches me the snares. How can we have trap day without a trapper? How is it that the Capitol can take away my day of happiness when they're already taking my life?

None of us talk during our warm up jog, or afterwards when we stretch out. As much as Haymitch gripes and Peeta frets about snares, I think we all have come to enjoy trap day. After we stretch we don't really know what to do with ourselves today so Peeta instructs us to keep running. We run at least a couple miles, maybe three, and are sweating in the heat of the summer sun by the time we take a break for water.

I walk around the trunk of the tree to get to my water and run smack into Gale, who is holding my water bottle. I inhale quickly in complete confusion and delight.

He smiles big, whips me into his arms, and spins me around once. "You didn't think I'd miss trap day, did you?" he says happily.

"I hoped not, but how? How did you get off? I thought you said you had to work seven days a week now?"

He scratches the back of his head. "I still do, but I worked out a deal."

I raise my eyebrows and then shake my head in confusion. "A deal?"

He purses his lips. "Yes. I work one extra hour each day and a half day on Sunday."

_Ohhh...he's a smart one. Yikes, 13 hours each day and then 6 hours on the day he used to have off. That's a taxing schedule. _"So, you already finished your shift today?" I ask hopefully.

He gives me a big smile. "Yep. We start at 5:00 a.m., so I just got done."

"Oh, so that explains why you're a dirt ball today," I tease.

"Dirt ball?" he asks feigning to be hurt by the insult. "Maybe, I should be mad at that. Or maybe I should be mad at your little idea last night..."

I gulp. I knew it would be coming, I just thought he might have a few days to cool off before we had this conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about." _I'm going for innocent._

"Catnip, how many times do I have to tell you I don't need your help providing for my family, and I certainly don't want any contributions from Capitol gain?" His tone gets harsher as the question gets longer.

"What are you implying?" I ask, suddenly heated that he would suggest I'm using dirty money.

"Oh, don't tell me you feel good about taking that money, Katniss." And we're back to where we always go to...

I exhale in frustration. "I use that money to provide for my family. How is that wrong? I'm not using it for bad things."

"Any way it is used is bad. It shouldn't even be used," he says.

"That's ridiculous!" I throw my hands in the air. "It's just going to sit there and go to waste if I don't. Besides, your paycheck comes from Capitol money too."

"It comes from the District," he insists.

"The Capitol is where the District gets its' money!" I say angrily. "We sell coal to the Capitol. The Capitol pays the District, which pays you."

"It's not the same," he says simply.

He's really got me ticked now. "Well maybe you shouldn't eat any of our food then! I wouldn't want to poison you with delicious food bought with 'Capitol gain.'"

"Fine!" he exclaims. "I won't."

Then it hits me. I just dropped him out of our dinner party in my stupid anger. _Why does he have to get under my skin like that? _"I didn't mean that."

"No, you have a good point," he says.

"No, Gale," I tug on his arm to prove I didn't mean it.

"Shut up...both of you," Haymitch interjects suddenly.

We turn our heads to him and see that he and Peeta are watching with annoyed expressions.

"Haven't we had enough lover's spats for a lifetime?" Haymitch asks quietly while walking towards Gale's snare box.

I see Haymitch take Gale aside. I wonder if they're talking about the mine again, or if it's something new? Peeta watches the conversation too and his ears pick up something that mine don't since he's closer to them and he queries Haymitch, "Do you want to go to the stocks?"

Haymitch snickers but drops the subject and heads over to the tree to get a swig of water, while Gale makes his way to my side shaking his head with a smirk. He settles on teaching us how to make a baited hole noose and we set to work digging our individual holes and learning how to tie a noose properly. I'm not very good at knots so Gale has to show me how to make it more than a few times. In the middle of the final tutorial he loops my hands together with the noose and tightens it up. "That's one more for me," he calls to Peeta with a smug smile. I shake my head and laugh. _When will they give this up? _

After that he walks over to Haymitch. "Hey, I heard that you're not a fan of squirrels," Gale says to him. Haymitch turns to me and gives me a mean scowl to which I smile back at. "Want to learn a trap to catch them?" Gale asks.

Haymitch raises his eyebrows in interest. Gale might have finally found a snare to interest Haymitch with. "Sure, kid," Haymitch says.

Gale shows him how to make a squirrel pole, and Haymitch goes to work securing it to our tree in the meadow. I think he's excited to see if he can catch a squirrel or two with it, though I'm still unsure why he dislikes them so much.

We break for lunch when Madge comes by with her father's newspaper and read it leisurely in the sun until we've soaked up every last word, then we hand it back to Madge so her father doesn't sense that too many of them are going missing. After she leaves Gale tests our snares and finds that mine is the only one that is working properly. I smile with pride but Peeta just sits back down in frustration to start practicing again.

I notice Haymitch sneaking closer to my snare to mimic my movements so I pick up my materials and walk away from him. I dig myself a new hole and set myself a brand new trap, which Gale tests. It works just as well as the last one I made, which he praises me for. Peeta and Haymitch on the other hand take a few more snare attempts to achieve a functional snare. The sun starts to dip below the trees a little while later so we start grabbing our materials to place them back in the snare box.

On my way over to the box I forget to watch my feet and land on the edge of one of the snare holes we just dug. I try to balance myself so I don't fall in, but I overcorrect and fall deeper into the hole. "Ow!" I yelp when I feel a pain seize my ankle. I step out of the hole and walk on it tenderly.

"Is that the one you broke?" Peeta asks. I nod as I try to keep walking off the pain.

I only manage a few small steps though, because Gale picks me up and carries me away from the meadow to go home to my mom and Prim. My legs dangle off to the side, near where Peeta is walking. He's making sure no one bumps into my leg as we walk through town. I mouth a thank you when he looks over at me.

His face is pained and I know he's thinking about the Quell, just like I am. He's worried I'll be too injured to run from danger, and I'm worried that I won't be able to keep him away from danger. _How could I be so stupid? It would be the worst timing ever if I were to get hurt right now. _

When my mom and Prim see me being carried inside they panic. "What happened?" my mom asks and wrings her hands together as she scans me for injury.

"She hurt her ankle again," Gale says, still holding me in his arms. You'd think he'd get tired after a while but he carried me from the meadow all the way here and he doesn't even look that winded.

My mom ushers us over to the table where she works on patients, the same table that Gale was laid on. Memories of that night sweep through my mind and when I look at Gale I know he's thinking about that night too. I can't break away from his eyes even as my mom tells me to take my shoe off, so Peeta comes over and does it for me.

My mom checks my ankle for any sign of a break or fracture, or a muscle that is strained. When she tells me that my ankle will be fine and that it's just a sprain, Peeta and I exchange a relieved look and all the tension in my body releases. I can't imagine breaking a bone this crucial a month away from the Games.

Prim gets some bandages from the closet they use to store their medical supplies, and her and my mom tape my ankle tightly to make sure I don't hurt it worse. My mom tells me that I should keep off of my feet for a while, and when I look at Gale he just smirks at the thought of carrying me around all night.

After we finish dinner and the 43rd Hunger Games Gale swoops me off the couch and up into his arms.

"Gale!" I shriek. "What are you doing?"

"You're hurt, Catnip," he replies as if this is the most natural act. I have to admit, I don't _dislike_ it…

"Night Haymitch," Gale says. "Night Peeta."

They mumble a confused goodnight and Gale carries me out of his house, into my own, and up the stairs.

"You didn't have to do that," I say to him when he reaches the last step and pauses, holding me tightly in his arms.

"Sure, I did," he says. "Your ankle needs to heal, Katniss. You can't go into the Games hurt."

"Well you can put me down now," I tease.

"Mmm I could…but I don't want to," he says. Our faces are close together. It's dark so I can't see well, but his warm breath is on my face, and I can sense how close his lips are to mine. For a moment I think he's going to kiss me, but instead he asks me a question. "So what's your nightly routine?" he asks.

"What?"

"You heard me," he says.

"Why do you want to know?" I ask.

"Because I'm going to help you get ready for bed," he replies.

"Okay," I give in. "I need to brush my teeth." All this dessert Peeta is feeding me is bad for my teeth. Not that it will really matter in a month anyways.

"Then to the bathroom we go." He sets me on the bathroom counter and I brush, thinking the whole time that Gale is being overly protective. What does he think I'm going to do tomorrow? I'm going to workout…and he can't stop me.

I try to shimmy off the counter to walk to my room, but Gale steps in the way and ends up right between my legs. _This is new._

This time I don't have to wonder if he's going to kiss me. Neither of us hesitates, and when he lowers his face I draw mine upward, our lips meeting in the middle. He tastes sweet from the chocolate we ate.

Gale puts his hands on my hips and slowly pulls me closer. I pull my lips away and he senses my hesitation, backing up immediately, which has the opposite effect. It makes me miss the closeness of his body, closeness I have never felt before.

"_I'm sorry,"_ his eyes say. Now I feel bad. I didn't mean to make him feel guilty.

"Time for bed," he says, scooping me up into his arms again. The moment has passed, and now both of us feel like we made a mistake.

I sigh as he walks me to my room like I'm an invalid. When he reaches my room he has to shift my weight to reach the doorknob to open the door. He slides his hands along one of my most ticklish spots.

I laugh, and when I realize how loud I'm probably being and how my sister and mom are trying to sleep, I duck my head into Gale's neck.

"Gosh, Catnip, what are you trying to do to me?" he says, letting out a deep breath.

"Huh?" I try to examine his face but it's too dark to see what's going through his mind. He's not upset. In fact, it's a tone unlike I've ever heard before from him. It piques my curiosity.

He doesn't respond. He just walks me to my bed and lays me down. "Alright, what's next?"

Suddenly I feel awkward. "I get changed."

"Oh," he says in surprise, and then leaves the room so I can change without him present.

When he comes back in I'm in my pajamas, sitting on the bed.

"Do I have tuck you in too?" he teases.

I frown. "Well, yes. But if you don't want to," I start scrambling to get under the covers. He laughs and comes beside me.

"I thought you didn't want me to do that anymore. Didn't you say I made you feel like a caterpillar?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it," I let my words drift off.

"Alright, alright. You're a fickle girl, Catnip."

I sigh. "Tell me about it."

He pulls the covers up and tucks them in around me just like last Sunday. But this time, when he's done, he notices that my defenses are down and tickles my sides again until I'm laughing so hard that I cry.

"Stop or I'm going to pee!" I squeal.

He laughs hard at that. "Is that a step I missed? Do I need to take you back to the bathroom?"

My bladder will be fine as long as he doesn't do that again, so I shake my head. I wipe away the tears from my eyes. All our years together…and he's never tickled me. I guess we just never had cause to touch each other in a playful way.

"Are you upset?" he asks me suddenly.

"Why would I be?" I ask.

He tells me without words. _The kiss in the bathroom. _It's in the silence between us, because it's him and me, and we don't need words to understand one another.

"No," I reassure him. "I just-"

"I know," he interrupts. We don't say anything for a few moments, but when I yawn he asks, "Are you ready for bed?"

"Yes," I say sleepily. It's so warm with him beside me, not that I need the heat. It's summertime and the weather at night stays warm and humid. But his presence is comforting and every time he puts me to bed he makes me forget about the Games. Even if it's only one or two nights a week, I'll gladly take it. He presses a kiss to my forehead and says, "Goodnight, Catnip."

"Goodnight, Gale."

* * *

**Workout Day 53, Monday:**

"Who's Games are we watching tonight, Peeta?" Haymitch asks in between bites at breakfast. Peeta and I suspend our juice glasses mid-air and exchange a look. "What?" Haymitch asks in irritation.

'You never ask about the Games, that's all," Peeta says.

"Well, I'm asking now," he replies coolly.

I furrow my eyebrows. _Why is Haymitch asking now?_ Two possibilities: He's suddenly interested in the Games. Doubtful. Or he's suggesting that these next Games are the ones to really pay attention to. Probable, and smart thinking.

Peeta looks in his notebook and finds the next blank victor page. "District 2 Victor Brutus' Games are next," Peeta says.

Haymitch sighs. "So we're on the 44th Games then," he says darkly. Peeta and I exchange another look. "He's going to be one of the toughest victors to beat."

"If he gets reaped that is," Peeta reasons.

Haymitch doesn't respond, and instead finishes his breakfast quickly. He gets up and heads outside, so we follow suit and gobble down the rest of our breakfast. Prim hands me a bag with my lunch in it, and Peeta and I follow Haymitch.

"I don't see how Brutus wouldn't be reaped," Haymitch says nonchalantly as soon as were about ten feet away from my house.

Peeta and I look at Haymitch with confused looks. "You don't see how he wouldn't?" I question.

Since we're outside, Haymitch doesn't pause in explaining, even though he does look around. "We have to be prepared for it to be rigged."

"What? The reaping?" Peeta asks.

Haymitch nods his head. Peeta and I look at each other with worried expressions. I never even thought about them rigging the reaping. I just kept thinking that they rigged the Quarter Quell card. Of course they would rig the reaping too. The articles in the paper could be a really good indicator of who will be reaped in that case. If it's rigged than the Capitol will likely pull the names of the favored victors, and the names of the ones who cause trouble, like me. I'll pay more attention the mayor's newspapers in that case.

"They'll reap me," says Haymitch.

Peeta and I fall into an uncomfortable silence. A few moments pass before I ask, "Why do you think that?"

"Because I'm the only Quarter Quell Victor still alive," he says miserably, and I can tell he's in desperate need of a drink, even though it's the early morning. Peeta stares hard at him and I know he's trying to communicate that it doesn't matter, that he'll still volunteer no matter what. It makes me feel a wave of familiar guilt all over again at the thought of him giving up his life so willingly for me. _Does he know that I plan on doing the same for him?_

Madge meets us in the meadow for yoga, but Peeta won't let me workout today because of my ankle, so I have to sit down and critique their form. However, I'm more interested in taking a nap in the warm rays of the sun, so I do that instead.

I wake up and feel disoriented until I realize that I'm still in the meadow. Peeta is lying down beside me, and at first I think he'll be mad at me for dozing off, but then I notice that he's sleeping.

His face is so content and he seems so at peace that I can't help but drink it in. I haven't seen him so tranquil in months, not since the Victory Tour where we clung to each other to quell the nightmares. He was indispensable to me in those moments. I'm sure it will be the same the next time we go to the Capitol, if he allows me to get that close in private ever again.

Haymitch and Madge come over to us after they finish eating their lunch, but I shush them because Peeta is still asleep and I can tell he's exhausted.

Madge waves and mouths a goodbye and Haymitch grabs an apple and starts eating it under the shade of the tree, leaving Peeta and I in the warm sunshine. I take it that Haymitch isn't going to grab the reins on afternoon training, so I rest my head back on the soft grass and soak in the sun.

Haymitch wakes us mid-afternoon, but by then we're too wiped to do any training, so we go home. At dinner Peeta and I are groggy from our nap so Prim and my mom keep most of the conversation going. Haymitch seems in good spirits from the break in training but he doesn't say so.

After we finish eating and washing our dishes we start watching Brutus' Games at Peeta's house. He's the biggest victor I've ever seen come out of District 2, like a monstrous version of Cato.

"Now sweetheart, I know you're into the whole cuddling and not paying attention thing…but the victors who are more likely to be a threat to you, are in these Games, so I suggest you start paying closer attention."

"What are you talking about?" I ask angrily. "I've been here every single night with both of you, watching the Games just like you."

"You may have been here physically, but your mind has been elsewhere," Haymitch says.

At this point I lose my temper. "No it hasn't. I've been watching them the same as you and Peeta!"

Haymitch laughs. "Oh? Oh really? Is this watching the Games?" Haymitch says and proceeds to mock cuddle with Gale, using Peeta as his dummy.

"Get off me, old man," Peeta says giving him a light shove.

"I don't do that," I scowl. _Actually...yes, I do. Dangit._

"Whatever you say, sweetheart. Snuggle with him all you want," Haymitch says and I blush slightly. "Just make sure to pay attention to Brutus' Games."

"Right, he's a brute," I say. "I remember that conversation. Anyone else I should be paying attention to?"

"We're getting to them. You've already seen most of the ones I'm concerned about," he exchanges a look with Peeta and me before sitting in his chair.

"Newer victors?" I ask.

He nods his head in confirmation. My mind starts automatically compiling a list of the most dangerous ones: Enobaria...Johanna Mason...Savannah George...Finnick Odair, and a whole bunch of others.

After watching the first half of Brutus' Games I go back to my house to attempt to sleep. I toss and turn in my sheets, throwing them off me when I get too warm and yanking them back over me when my skin chills. I close my eyes and focus on the darkness, but that doesn't work either. After an hour I give up and look out my window at Peeta's house. _If he's still awake I could go see what he's up to_…I reason.

I see light flickering on the first floor and figure that it's probably coming from the television, so I walk over there. Lo and behold he's already watching the interviews, so I sit beside him Peeta and we judge the interviews together.

We determine that each tribute can get between a 1 and a 5, and we base it on personality, poise, and above all, the way they answer. Brutus only receives a 3 from us. His public speaking skills are horrible, but his body size and the ferocity behind his words win him a 3. His District partner didn't even speak, she just nodded and looked angry. We gave her a 1. Then there was a funny, little boy from 8 who broke our hearts with his small size but stole our hearts with his jokes. We gave him a 5.

When the interviews are over Peeta stops the tape and I bid him goodnight, again, and go back to bed, and this time I do fall asleep.

* * *

**Workout Day 54, Tuesday:**

Today when we get to the meadow I see that Peeta has set up a Cornucopia type scene.

"Peeta, is this what I think this is?" I ask.

"Yes," he says unsurely. "I thought we could sprint from the boxes for our afternoon training. The tree can be the Cornucopia, and we can put supplies in different spots and practice getting to them."

Peeta has put 24 wooden crates out in a circle around the large tree we use for climbing. It's not entirely accurate to how the Gamemakers would set it up, and it would be disturbing if it was, but maybe it will be a good training tactic.

And as much as I hate to admit it, it might be easier on us if we were to get ourselves in the mindset of the bloodbath before we're fighting in it. It's more of a mental exercise than a physical one, and I've come to understand that that's what it really comes down to at the bloodbath, especially with all victors as the tributes.

We start off with our normal workout though. We jog and stretch, and then lift weights and do strength conditioning. By mid morning the heat swelters and the humidity is stifling, so we all decide to forgo our shirts. I'm not topless though of course. I'm wearing the sports bra Cinna sent me at the beginning of training.

We're conspicuous to varying degrees. Haymitch's slight beer belly continues to proudly protrude, while Peeta...well I'd be downright lying if I said he didn't look good. Occasionally I catch him glancing over at me, and he finds me doing the same. I hate it when my eyes sweep down his body the way they do. It's like they have a mind of their own. But I can tell from his smirk that he's enjoying the attention.

Halfway through our last set of lunges I notice Peeta's gaze snap over to the entrance to the meadow and I follow it until I see Gale walking over to us. Peeta's content attitude quickly disappears as Gale gets closer, and he orders us to start doing our final pushups.

I ignore him to walk over to Gale. I know Peeta will hate that I'm not doing my push-ups but I don't care.

I meet Gale's eyes and blush when his eyes plunge downwards giving my body a full scan. I suddenly feel self-conscious, whereas I never have before with him.

"Boy I'm glad you didn't dress like that in the woods. I would've trapped myself," he says to me.

I laugh at the thought of Gale trapping himself. "It's a good thing I didn't have clothes like this then, huh?"

Gale makes a sound like he's not sure how to answer. I can tell he's fighting to keep looking at my eyes. "What's going on?" he asks looking around at the setup in the meadow as if he just noticed it.

"It's the Cornucopia scene," I say. "We're practicing our sprinting with the pedestal setup. What are you doing here though? Two days off in a week? I'm shocked."

"I got off early," he replies anxiously.

I'm about to ask him why, until I notice the worried creases on his face and his pursed lips. That's Gale's "don't ask" face, so I bite my tongue. He looks more stressed then ever, and I know he's thinking of his family and how to provide for what they need.

So I redirect to a different subject. "Do you want to do the countdown for us?" I ask. I'm sure Haymitch won't mind that his role is being offered up to Gale.

"Sure," he says.

"Did you know you were getting sunburnt?" he says to Peeta when they cross paths.

Haymitch, Gale, and I chuckle at poor, white boy Peeta who can't stay in the sun very long without protection. He huffs in frustration and throws his shirt back on to ward off more burnt skin.

We break to get some water and then we start our afternoon training. Gale does the countdown and Peeta and I practice racing off of the crates and playing out different scenarios: working as a team to gather supplies and flee, splitting up and using our strengths to get the supplies and take down the occasional ghost tribute, working together to grab weapons only and take down District 2, and every other combination we can think of. Next Haymitch is paired up with me "in case" he gets reaped and goes in with me.

Haymitch pauses before getting on the crate. "Peeta, it's not a bad idea to set up a Cornucopia scene," he says, which is actually a compliment from him, "but it doesn't feel real. The bloodbath is a mind game as much as it tests physical ability."

Peeta nods once and shrugs. "What do you suggest then?"

"More people," Haymitch replies.

Peeta looks at me, and I see a look of pain flash over his features telling me he really doesn't want to involve anyone in today's activity. If he does, then it will feel real, and that isn't something any of us want to feel right now.

"He's right," Gale chimes in. "It'll be more of a training exercise that way."

Peeta thinks it over and finally concedes. "Alright. so we just ask random people?"

Gale huffs. "If they don't volunteer on reaping day, do you really think they'll volunteer for this?" Gale asks. But a second later he shakes his head and says, "Alright, Catnip, let's get going."

I throw on my shirt again. "Where should we start?" I ask as we start walking towards the Seam.

He smiles. "My house."

Gale and I split up from Haymitch and Peeta, and we go to all the homes in the Seam where we know kids might come out and help us. Peeta goes to town to see if his brothers and friends are free. Haymitch stays in the meadow to ward off any Peacekeepers if they come by, but I think he really would rather be alone for a moment.

On the way to the Seam Gale confides, that he was forced to leave the mine early today because he got in a fight with one of the Peacekeepers. The way his words fall out let me know how ashamed he is of his actions. He knows that this affects his family more than it affects him. Then when Gale takes me to his crew members' houses for them to volunteer, I know how bad of a turn the fight took. If Thom and Bristel are home right now too then that means they were involved in the fight and got sent home. Now I understand why Gale is hunched a little lower today. He must feel awful that they lost a day's wages. Their family is in desperate need of every last coin, just like the Hawthornes.

Gale and I return with Posy, Vick, Rory, Rory's two best friends, Prim, Leevy and her little brother, Leevy's neighbor, Rooba's son, Greasy Sae's granddaughter, Gale's next door neighbors' son and daughter, Thom with his brother and sister, and even Bristel.

When I come up to Haymitch I see that he's busy digging through my lunch bag. "While I was waiting...I ate your apple," Haymitch says unapologetically. I scowl at him, but I'm not too mad because we've got a good sized gathering here, and mostly they're all people I enjoy being around.

When Peeta comes back he's got a couple large bags on his back, and his brother Rye carries another on his back. His other brother, Bannock, is also here, and I've never met him before. Madge follows the group of boys and Delly is walking beside her. So that puts us at...24. Good. They're mostly people raised in the Seam, but I suppose that makes sense. People in town are generally more wary of getting in trouble, and this is something they would see as trouble.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Haymitch talking to Rye, up close and quietly. Peeta seems to sense that he's trying to bribe Rye to buy him alcohol so he barks at Haymitch to knock it off.

I walk over to Peeta who is rummaging through the big bag that he brought. Curiosity gets the best of me. "Peeta? What did you bring?"

He gives me a big smile and says, "We couldn't have a Cornucopia scene without supplies...could we?"

I look in the bag with wide eyes and see that he brought dozens of packs of food, backpacks, our fake swords and maces, rope, and a giant bag of cookies. Peeta and I go to work setting them out around the Cornucopia, while Gale explains what's going on today.

When Peeta and I are done we walk over to help direct them since Haymitch is proving useless on that end. We thank them for coming and ask each of them to choose their own pedestal. Prim instantly seizes the one beside me, which makes me smile. The rest of the group takes a minute to settle on to their own pedestal. Rory and Vick cause a stir when the fight each other for the pedestal next to Gale, but Rory wins easily and smiles coyly when he catches Prim's eye. I look at her and she instantly blushes and looks away from me.

Haymitch counts down once we're all settled, and as hard as it is to not speak to Gale with my expressions during the countdown I can't help but keep glancing his way. Ultimately though, it comes down to me helping Peeta, which means me helping myself. So I ready myself and set my sights on my practice bow.

"3...2...1..." Haymitch mimics the horn and then we're off. I race towards the Cornucopia for the bow that's placed on a branch on the Cornucopia tree, but something catches my eye to the left and I turn to see Delly's little brother running towards Prim. I stop and run to her and throw her over my shoulder. Then I run in the opposite direction of the "bloodbath" and set her down in safety. Posy runs after us and I sit her beside Prim and then run to the action to try to get a weapon.

But Peeta interrupts me. "Stop!" he yells. "Reset," he instructs and everyone puts their supplies where they found them and goes back to their pedestal.

"Peeta? What are you doing?" I ask him.

"You didn't grab anything," he says.

We reset and Haymitch counts us down. But a similar action occurs when Bannock gets a rope and comes for Prim. I grab her hand and pull her to safety away from the bloodbath.

"Stop! Reset," Peeta says again, and everyone looks at me and shakes their heads.

This time as we reset I see Gale walking over to where I am and a smile comes over my face. However, it disappears when he veers over to Prim and picks her up. He carries her over to his pedestal, setting her down next to a grinning Rory, and comes over beside me.

I look at him with a look of betrayal, but he just tells me, "You know she's not going to get hurt right?"

"I know," I mumble and ignore his chuckle.

The countdown begins again. "3...2...1..." Haymitch mimics the horn and I fly off the pedestal sprinting as fast as I can for the bow that's in the tree, in the "mouth of the Cornucopia." I grab it, scan for Peeta's location, and grab some rope on the way over to him. He's got a backpack over his shoulders and a bag of food. Once we make it to each other he smiles and yells "Stop! Reset," again.

We do this over and over again, each time our siblings and friends are becoming more loosened up. They start trying to tackle Peeta and I on the way to get our supplies, which gives us ample opportunities to use our skills at hand-to-hand combat. We grapple and wrestle, and fake injure the other "tributes" and manage to get out alive with supplies most of the time. After several rounds we see the kids laughing and jumping on each other, and they start playing dead once their "opponent" has made a "kill shot" on them. This was supposed to be more realistic, and it is to a certain extent, but for the most part it's just downright entertaining. We laugh more than anything, and everyone's spirits seem to be high.

"Stop! Reset," Peeta yells out after another sprint has begun and Gale found his way to me. Gale had tackled me and then pinned me to the ground holding a fake sword against my throat. "Yield," Gale commanded, but I shook my head. He lowered his face to mine, our lips were mere inches away from each others. "Yield," he said again. I shook my head again. His lips almost closed the distance until Peeta interrupted us and Gale flew away from me and helped me up.

"What now?" I ask Peeta in frustration.

"There's no way that's plausible, Katniss," he says. "In fact, let's all change positions," he instructs our group. We all move except for Peeta and I because we're already far apart from each other and that's how it will be in the Games. Gale and I exchange a look before the next countdown and he shrugs his shoulders at me. He's now the furthest one away from me.

We practice our runs over and over again, this time without any hitches. When it's coming close to evening we come to a natural break because everyone is pretty worn out and thirsty. All of us are sweating, and I hear more than one stomach grumbling. Peeta thanks them all again for coming and says, "In thanks for helping us, Katniss and I would like to give away the food we brought as supplies today and offer a meal to anyone who would like to join us for dinner."

The Town kids just shrug like they don't really need the food, but the people living in the Seam stand there, speechless. "Is he serious?" some of them whisper. I look down and smile because this is all Peeta's doing. It's just one more of his selfless acts. It steels my resolve, and fills me with confidence that he is the right victor to save in the Quell. Think of what he could do for Panem if he kept doing things like this, on a larger scale. And it's the way he does it that assures me that Snow won't be able to point a finger at his actions like he did with me.

Gale and I hang back from the pack of children, mostly from the Seam, who are tugging on Peeta's clothes for more food as we all walk back to our homes. They smile and thank him when he gives them a parsel of food and a handful of fresh cookies. They can hardly believe their eyes at his generosity. I know they'll never join us for dinner tonight, but this is the sweetest thing he could do for the kids from the Seam who are not only starving, but have probably never tasted sweets like that in their lives. Peeta knows better than anyone that dessert has a way of brightening anyone's day. Now he's giving that gift away freely, and everyone is extremely thankful for it. You can see it all over their shining, excited faces. He may not know it, but he might have saved a few lives here today. Just like he did for me so many years ago...

I look over at Gale, who is watching his siblings eat the cookies Peeta gave them. They have huge smiles on their faces. "It'd be better if he were easier to hate," he admits.

"Tell me about it," I say. "If I could've just hated him in the arena, we all wouldn't be in this mess now. He'd be dead, and I'd be a happy little victor all by myself."

He looks at me briefly and lowers his head. _"You wouldn't be happy,"_ he says wordlessly.

_"No, you're right. I'd hate myself forever if I didn't try to bring him home." _I "say" back.

We walk side by side without saying anything for a few minutes. "Where would we be, Katniss?" Gale asks me suddenly.

I pause, not knowing what to say. Where_ would _I be with my pretend cousin who wouldn't be my cousin if it weren't for Peeta?

_"Would you have still kissed me?" _my eyes question him.

_"Yes. Would you have kissed me back, Catnip?" _

_"Possibly." _

He smiles.

_"Would I have let myself open up to you?" _I ask myself more than him, although he senses my lingering question. _  
_

_"You were already starting to. I saw your eyes dart to the hills after you volunteered. You were thinking about running with me. You wished you had then. You still wish you could." _

I look away because I don't want him to know how right he is.

_"Katniss, where would we be if Peeta wasn't part of your life?" _his eyes long for an answer.

I break our silent conversation. "Hunting. Like every Sunday," I say to him. This is as much as I can honestly give him right now.

_"That's all?" _his eyes ask.

_"You know I chose you over Peeta. What's the point in talking about this?" _

_"Because I love you," his eyes say._ He realizes how far in we've gotten ourselves, and I can tell he didn't mean for that to come across to me because he turns his face away from mine. I turn away from him too, because it hurts too much to let him know that I love him when I know that soon I won't be able to return his love.

We arrive at the Hawthorne's house soon after that, and Gale ushers his siblings inside. He gives me a long look before closing the door so I can go home to eat as well.

After we shower and eat dinner we start up Brutus' Games again. When the funny, little boy comes on the screen we know he is about to die. Brutus barrels towards him, and their sizes are a shocking contrast. It's heartbreaking to watch the boy we gave a top interview score die in such a cruel way.

"What's wrong with you both?" Haymitch asks, staring at us in concern.

"The little boy was so sweet, and so funny," I say miserably, not able to take my eyes away from where he lies on the ground.

Haymitch creases his brow. "And how would you know that?"

"I saw his interview," I say.

"What?" Haymitch snips, and my eyes snap over to him in surprise.

"I watched his interview last night," I say.

Haymitch's gaze slides over to Peeta, and a hard stare settles over his face. "Do you think that's a good idea, boy?"

"We just couldn't sleep," Peeta defends. "I've been watching the interviews from the beginning."

"You have?" Haymitch and I ask in unison.

"Yeah," Peeta shrugs.

"Okay, let me put it to you this way," Haymitch begins. "Do you think it's a good idea for her to watch them?"

"Me?" I ask in confusion. "What's wrong with me watching the interviews?"

"Just look at you!" he says. "You're practically crying over a boy you never knew."

I puff my chest in anger. "So what if I feel for this boy? It keeps me human!"

Haymitch scans my face, and gives a slight nod. "It's your decision. But if you get to know all of the victors, and start getting attached to them imagine how much harder it's going to be for you in the arena."

"What if we need them as allies?" I ask.

"We'll get to that after the reapings," he says. "Right now, we have no idea who will be there, other than you and Johanna since you're the only female victors from 12 and 7. Other than that," he pauses and throws his hands up in the air, "who knows who will be there." Haymitch looks at Peeta and says, "I don't want us to over think things."

"But they already know us," I counter. "How can it be a bad idea to get to know them a little better?"

"It's not," he says. "But I know who you'll align yourself with, sweetheart." He gives me a disapproving look, and I know he's thinking I'll find allies like Rue. Innocent, nonviolent Rue.

I look back at the television and decide that I'll make my own decisions on whether or not to watch the interviews with Peeta. It helps me take my mind off the blood and screams from the Games. Is that so wrong?

Later that night when I inevitably can't sleep Haymitch's words go through my mind, and I get up to look out my window at Peeta's house to see if he's up. I see different lights on upstairs, but not downstairs by his television. I sit down in a chair by the window and wonder what he's doing right now.

After a couple minutes curiosity gets the best of me and I make my way over to his house. It's too hot to sleep right now anyways.

When I get inside I call his name and he tells me he's upstairs, which I already knew. I make my way upstairs and find him in the bathroom trying desperately to put aloe on his skin.

"Woah! You really did get burnt," I say with widened eyes. His shoulders are burnt the worst, but his chest, back, and arms are all _really_ red. No wonder he couldn't sleep tonight.

I come closer to him and take the container of aloe to help spread it around his skin. He flinches when my fingers press the salve into the small of his back.

"Thanks," he says quietly.

"Anytime," I say back.

He laughs softly. "Maybe I should get burnt everyday."

"No, that would be bad for your skin. I'm sure Prim would scold you if you tried that."

"Might be worth it," he says looking in the mirror at me. I blush and hide behind him so he can't see me in the mirror.

"I'm not surprised you can't sleep, Peeta. Your skin is so red."

"I know. I've never been burned like this before. I was always inside helping at the bakery."

I frown, thinking about how sad it is to have been cooped up inside his whole childhood. "Always?" I ask.

"Well, not every minute. We did sneak out sometimes. And my mom let us play with the neighbor kids on the weekends, as long as one of us kids was helping my parents in the bakery."

"Oh," is all I can manage to say. I start comparing how much time he spent inside and how much time I spent outside and see how different our lives have been during the last 4 years.

"I know, I know. It's pathetic."

"No, it's not pathetic," I say. "We just led very different lives until now."

"Until now," he repeats softly.

When I'm finished putting aloe on him we go downstairs and makes me hot cocoa while his skin soaks the aloe in.

"You don't have to stay with me," he says as he sets my mug of cocoa in front of me.

"I know," I say. "I just…can't sleep. It's hard to go to sleep after the Games."

He nods in agreement. "Every night I bake something or make some dough right after to try to rid the images out of my head, but it doesn't work and I still can't sleep. So then I paint."

"Does that help?" I ask. I wonder if things have changed since I asked him that during the Victory Tour.

"No," he says.

"What do you paint?" I ask him curiously.

"Do you want to see?" he asks.

"Sure."

He leads me upstairs to the room he uses specifically for painting. As he opens the door I prepare for paintings of the new victors we've seen or the horrible muttations. But I'm wrong. Most of the paintings involve me in some way, but I notice that I'm often doing something or I'm with other people. There's me giving Prim a hug as I always do before we leave to train in the meadow, one of Haymitch and I boxing, then there's my mom giving me the birthday present my dad made me, and me chasing Buttercup in the meadow. There's even one of Gale teaching me a snare in the meadow.

His paintings differ from the ones he showed during the Victory Tour. They now reflect something better. Family. But I notice one person is missing from "my life." Peeta. "Where are you in these paintings?" I ask scanning the rest of the paintings to see if he painted one of him and I.

He tilts his head at my question. "What?"

"You have all of my family here with me, but where are you?" I ask. There's a painting of him and his brothers, and a separate one of him and his dad. His mother isn't included in any of the paintings though, which doesn't surprise me. But there isn't a single one of him and I.

"Katniss, I don't understand," he says.

"Do you not see me as part of your family?" I ask with more emotion than I anticipated coming out of me.

His face scrunches in confusion. "Do you?" he asks in surprise.

There's something about his remark that makes me bristle, that makes my insides twist, and I walk out of the room quickly without answering and start heading for the front door.

"Katniss!" he calls out but I don't respond.

* * *

**Workout Day 55, Wednesday:**

Haymitch's POV

_Sweethearts are very subdued this morning…_I wonder what happened at Peeta's house last night? If she thinks she's sneaking over without me noticing she's got another thing coming.

_Maybe I could ask Madge to buy me some alcohol today?_ She's bringing her father's newspaper._ No, I can't do that. _I wish I didn't have to sit through Chaff's Games tonight...

Katniss' POV

Peeta and I hang back after dinner and let Haymitch get to Peeta's first so we can talk. Haymitch didn't even seem to realize we weren't walking over beside him.

"This is going to be too hard on him," I say to Peeta.

He takes a deep breath. "He agreed to this. Knowing full well what he would take part in."

"Well what else was he going to do? You drained his stash."

He purses his lips. "Haymitch is tough. He can handle sobriety, and he can handle this. He watches the Games every year as a mentor."

"But this is his friend. Maybe his best friend."

As soon as Haymitch enters Peeta's house he's completely distracted. Getting a glass of water from the kitchen. Downing it and going back for another. He goes to the bathroom, twice before we even push play. I thought he might have a hard time watching Chaff's Games, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

Although it hadn't occurred to me that Haymitch's true friends, the ones that really understand him, are either out to kill us or be killed by us. And he is supposed to help that happen. I suddenly feel so guilty that he is here watching his friends' Games. Peeta obviously does too, because he walks to the kitchen, digs around in a cabinet, and returns with a bottle of white liquor. It's smaller than Haymitch's usual bottles, but I doubt he'd mind right now.

Peeta offers it to him, and for the first time ever I see Haymitch _think_ before taking the bottle in his hands. He examines it closely, and surprises us when he goes to the kitchen and pours it down the drain.

I've never respected him more than this moment. I think, if I was in his situation, I would have chugged it all.

Chaff's arena is filled to the brim with vegetation. Some of it is so colorful and beautiful that I think it would be a pretty place to go to, but then I remember that these are the Hunger Games and what you see isn't what you get. Some of the tributes actually get bitten by some of the plants they pass by. Chaff is careful the entire time, but he gets bitten occasionally by some of the plants so he charges through the jungle looking desperately for a way out of it.

All of the tributes seem to wish they were out of the jungle. They sense that it's a ticking time bomb and it sets them all on edge. In fact, they're so worried about the arena that they hardly focus on trying to find and kill each other. On day 4 the announcers are discussing how the Capitol is getting agitated with the lack of "fight" in these tributes so we start seeing more muttations come out of the woodwork.

Chaff and his partner, Lilac, come on screen and Haymitch fidgets in his chair. I have a feeling it's because something is about to happen to Chaff or the girl from 11, and now I don't want to see it either, but I force myself to watch. The vines around them have started to come to life. They grow and writhe as soon as they come near them so they run through them, dodging them at every turn.

The screen splits to show the boy from 8 who was is very close to them. One of the vines wraps around his arm so he can't move. He panics as more and more entangle him and he starts to scream. The vines don't seem to squeeze though, they just hold him down. About a half hour later we hear a canon boom and it was for the boy from 8. The announcers tell us the vines are poisonous, and it all comes together for us.

Chaff and Lilac are now running through the vines even faster, but a few seconds after they hear the canon they come across the boy from 8's body, which is still entangled in the vines. They share a look and realize they need to get far away from the vines. They run and run until they finally hear water and run towards that sound. When they come across a river they test the water to see if it's poisonous, but assume it's okay so they start drinking from it and cleaning their faces with it.

The announcers come back on with gleeful faces as they show the Career pack headed towards the vine patch. They heard the screams and the canon and they figured there might be more tributes around to fight. When they see Chaff and Lilac they run back into the vines to escape, but the Careers cross the river quickly and are sprinting as fast as they can.

A vine trips one of the Careers, but they leave her to chase after Chaff and Lilac. Lilac is tiring from the running, but keeps up with Chaff. Then everything happens very fast. A vine reaches out and coils around Chaff's hand and the poison sets in against his skin quickly. He cries out in pain and then more vines attack him and coil around his legs.

They will be surrounded by the rest of the Careers soon and they both know that. Chaff slashes at the vines viciously but can't manage to get free. Lilac helps him, slicing through the vines attached to his legs. A few seconds later she hears the Career pack draw in closer. She looks at him and quickly says, "I'll draw them away," before she sprints off in a different direction from where Chaff is.

The Careers stop, look at Chaff and then at Lilac, and say to each other, "He's a goner. We probably wouldn't even get the kill." Then the leader says, "Sorry, just the way the Game is played," before leading his pack on after Lilac who is deemed a "better kill." "Run Lilac!" Chaff screams and hacks away at the only vine left with his machete. It's still coiled tightly around his hand and the poison is hurting him so badly that he can't seem to wield his weapon anymore. We watch as the tendrils tighten and he screams out in more pain. He looks at his hand and the machete, gripping it firmly in his hand. He gulps and so do I. Then he lifts the machete up in the air and brings it down as hard as he can manage on his own hand, severing it clean off. He screams in agony and holds his bloody wrist tightly to keep from bleeding out. He wraps cloth around it tightly and gets away from the vine patch of the arena as quickly as he can manage.

Lilac dies shortly after, and Chaff gets sent some medicine as a sponsor gift. _They must have liked his guts. He_ heals after a couple days of rest, hidden behind a patch of tall grasses, and regains his strength when he gets sent some food. He even fights off a couple tributes several days later at the feast, and a day later he fought the final Career.

It was a horrible fight. The boy from 1 threw him on the ground before Chaff found his last bit of inner strength to kick the boy's legs out from under him and pierce his stomach with a machete. Seconds later the canon sounded and Chaff just laid on the ground holding his injured arm.

It's a horrible Games, and now I know why Haymitch didn't want to watch it. _I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight..._

Sure enough I can't, so I make my way over to Peeta's. When I get there I find Haymitch and Peeta playing cards so I sit down beside them and say, "Deal me in." And they do.

"You know," Peeta says, "this could be looked at as combat training."

Haymitch and I look at each other and scoff at this being combat training, but Peeta insists, "Bluffing in the arena can save your life." He pauses. "Or it can get you sponsors."

Ouch. That one was aimed at me, but it's true and I can't refute it. But he did too. "I wasn't the only one who bluffed," I say.

Peeta looks at me with a confused expression.

"You said tons of guys like me," I remind him.

"Yeah, and that's not true, is it Katniss?" he mocks lightly. "Hit me," he says, and Haymitch deals him another card.

We play on and on into the night, not keeping track of time, and more than anything just content to not be stuck in a nightmare. We talk occasionally, but the silence is welcome to all of us, even Peeta.

I find that we help each other now with more than just working out and training because we help each other through the emotional and mental battles we face as victors. No one in our District understands the state of our mind, or why we're still emotional wrecks after all this time, because the arena messes with your body, mind, and spirit. The nightmares come not because of what our bodies went through, although that's a good enough reason, they come because now we _know_ how low we will go to survive. We experienced the jarring emotions that stem from killing someone else. Call it survival of the fittest if you want. Lawful murder seems a better term. And we know it better than anyone.

That's one of the many reasons that I'm adopting a new strategy with this Quell. I didn't have answers for why I pulled out those berries in the past, and I still don't to my great shame. I don't want to come out of another Games wondering why I killed or saved someone. Not to mention that it's Peeta's turn to be saved by Haymitch and I.

"Hit me," Peeta says, shaking me out of my rumination and worries.

"No," I tease him. He looks at me with a side smile that seems to be drooping with exhaustion from our late night. "You should go to bed, Peeta."

"Are you going to bed?" he asks.

I shake my head and look at Haymitch. I don't see sleep happening any time soon, and it seems Haymitch feels the same way.

"Well I'm going to go grab some cinnamon rolls from the kitchen then," he says, sliding back his chair. "We might as well eat if we're up."

While we wait, I rest my head on the table and listen to Peeta's heavy footfall heading to the kitchen. It's a strange comfort to listen to Peeta's familiar sounds, but a comfort nonetheless. I close my eyes and let the smell of fresh bread and cinnamon overtake my senses.

* * *

**Workout Day 56, Thursday:**

I wake up and I'm in a very foreign place. Immediately I feel like I shouldn't be here. This isn't my bed, this isn't my room. Is this even my house? _Where am I?_

I look around me in the bed and I'm definitely alone. I look around the room I'm in and realize that I'm in Peeta's room. _How did I wind up here?_

But then something catches my eye. A new painting is in his room, and it's set up in front of the bed to catch my attention. It's of Peeta and I together, the night I watched over him after his concussion, and it makes me smile.

Peeta walks in a few minutes later and as notices me sitting upright in his bed, holding his sheets up to my shoulders, a blush sneaks over his cheeks. "Morning, sleepy head."

I frown. "What time is it?"

"9:30."

"What?" I cry out as I fly out of the covers and look around for my stuff. But I don't have anything to grab because I didn't come with anything, except slippers, which are downstairs.

We head over to my house and I notice Haymitch is sleeping on his couch. "Did he fall asleep here too?" I ask.

Peeta just laughs and whacks the bottom of Haymitch's feet. He bolts upright and curses with his knife in hand.

"Come on, breakfast time," Peeta says to him.

When we get to my house I see a package that was waiting on our front porch. Our postman brings the mail and packages along with our newspaper if there's anything to bring. He never knocks to notify us though. I can only assume that he's afraid of us since were victors.

I open the package up and see a card from Effie on top. _Great, what'd she send now. Another embarrassing outfit?_

A mockingjay embellishment adorns the front of the card, and the inside reads:

Dear Katniss,

Peeta told me that you wore one of the outfits I sent you and it caused quite the stir in District 12! I'm so glad to hear it. He said you lit up the night sky, and I knew that would thrill everyone.

I've sent along another two workout tapes that are absolutely divine! They're all the rage here. I hope you will be able to use them.

Sincerely,

Effie Trinket

"Peeta?" I look at him. "You told her the outfit caused a stir, huh?" He bites his lip but doesn't respond.

I huff exasperatedly, but open the rest of the package. The first video is called "Peacekeeper Workout" and I know instantly that I will never want to use this one. The whole notion is ridiculous. I don't think I need to train myself how to whip and hang people. The second is some sort of game of the Games. It has a photo of Peeta and I on the front, but the back of the case has photos of the most famous victors.

"Is that us?" Peeta asks, snatching the game from my hands.

I snatch it back. "Yes, and we're going to play it today."

He looks at me like he wishes we'd do something more productive, but he knows Thursday is my day to choose the activity so it's useless to argue with me.

After breakfast we go over to Peeta's and put the game into Peeta's device. I hear myself whistle the notes that Rue and I devised as a signal in the Games and immediately see her in my memories.

"Are you okay?" Peeta asks me, gently shaking my shoulder.

I nod, "Yes."

We each choose ourselves as our "characters" and have fun getting them in and out of trouble, all day long.

I go over to Gale's house to drop off the laundry for Hazelle, and when I get there Gale is sitting on the living room floor in front of a fire, which is heating a pot of water. It's not cold, in fact, it's a warm June day, so I wonder what he's doing sitting so close to it.

"Gale?"

"Hey, Catnip," he says without looking at me. He's still staring intently at the fire.

I sit beside him, just like we did on our rock in the woods. I look around and listen but hear only the fire. "Where's your family?"

"They're getting groceries," he says, giving me an odd look.

"There's something I need to tell you," I say.

"Oh boy," he says. "That's usually not followed by anything good."

I tell him outright. "I fell asleep at Peeta's last night," I say, and pause to judge his reaction. He bites the inside of his lip but doesn't seem mad, maybe just upset. "Haymitch did too," I add quickly. At this he frowns, and I explain further. "We were playing cards and the next thing I know I was waking up at his place."

"Did you sleep _together_?" he asks.

"No. I actually don't know where Peeta slept."

He frowns. "So where did you fall asleep?"

"On his table," I say.

Gale laughs. "I bet you felt great when you woke up in the morning."

"Actually I think Peeta or Haymitch put me in Peeta's bed," I say cautiously. He raises an eyebrow but doesn't look miffed. "I don't know how I got there. I promise."

He's silent for a minute. "You know...if you dislike your bed so much you can come stay in mine," he says with a smirk.

"That's all?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Gale asks.

"Last time that happened you stormed off and wouldn't speak to me," I say.

"This is different, Katniss. Last time I didn't know what you guys were doing. I didn't know how involved you were. That's what made me mad. But even that wouldn't matter if that was what you wanted."

Now I'm confused. "What do you mean?"

His face takes on a pained expression. "If he made you happy and you wanted him, I would learn to live with that."

"Gale, none of that even matters. We're going into the Games together. You know what that means for him and I."

Gale lowers his head, but I draw it up and give him a kiss to ease the pain.

We hear the door open and pull away, but not in time for Posy to catch us. "Eww, Nissy!" Posy interrupts us. "Don't you know boys have cooties?" she puts her hands on her hips while she scolds me. I look at Gale who just shakes his head and smiles.

The rest of the family isn't far behind with the groceries and small bags of laundry, so I leave Gale with his family and eat dinner back at my house. After dinner we watch the 46th Hunger Games. The victor was from District 2 and he was the leader of the Career pack. Career victor's Games are the most predictable Games we watch. I've almost become accustomed to how they win, and their attitude doesn't grate against me like it used to.

They team up, get their weapon of choice, and one by one work at getting their competition out of the way. It's a horrible path to take, but I'm going to be doing that soon enough so I might as well wrap my mind around it now. The only difference between the Career victors and me is that I won't be the last one standing.

After the Games I go back home and vow that I'll be able to sleep right away. As I walk upstairs I push away every image of the Games to the furthest recesses of my mind.

Only when I climb in my bed do I realize that someone is already in it. I jump out on instinct and try to find something to use as a weapon because this person is definitely bigger than Prim or even my mom, so I have no idea who it is other than the fact they're a man. But then I hear a small groan come from the man's lips and relax instantly when I realize that it's Gale. I climb back under the covers and he reaches an arm over my body and snuggles me closer.

"You're sneaky, Gale Hawthorne," I say while brushing his hair off his forehead.

"And you're not. You woke me up," he says groggily.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I'm putting you to sleep," he says.

"Are you coming here so I don't go to Peeta's?" I ask.

He hesitates. "No."

I roll my eyes. Usually his jealousy of Peeta unnerves me, but this just makes me smile.

He yawns. "I'm just putting you to sleep," he reiterates.

I laugh and clap my hand over my mouth to stop myself. "It looks like you're the one who needs to be put to sleep."

"I'm fine, Catnip," he mumbles.

"No you're not. You work 84 hours a week. You're exhausted. You need to sleep more." I bite my tongue. "You shouldn't watch the Games with us at night anymore."

He raises his head. "You don't want me to come anymore?"

"I didn't say that," I say.

"What are you saying?" he questions.

"I'm just looking out for your well-being. That's all." I pause. "I want you to come."

"I want to come too. I only get to see you for 27 more days." He rests his head back down on my pillow and pulls me even closer.

"You counted?" I ask with a smile.

"I've been counting ever since they made the announcement."

I nestle my body closer to his, drawn in by the heat and comfort he brings me, and close my eyes in enjoyment of his closeness.

* * *

**Workout Day 57, Friday:**

When I wake up I look to the other side of my bed and find that Gale isn't beside me anymore and it's definitely morning now. Did he fall asleep with me or did he just wait to leave until I was asleep?

After a hard workout this morning, I decide we should brush up on our tree climbing skills. Plus Haymitch has been sulking about his squirrel pole not catching any squirrels so I'm determined to put it in a more optimum location in the tree.

"Don't you move that!" Haymitch warns as I take hold of his squirrel pole to pull it higher into the tree.

"You're catching anything yet," I say. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"No, you don't. You haven't hunted in months. You've probably lost all your talent."

I bristle at that and throw his squirrel pole down to the ground. He immediately goes over to grab it and check that it's still in tact. I'm angry and start to climb higher to get away from Haymitch.

"Katniss, come back down," Peeta asks.

"No!" I say resolutely. "I have _not_ lost my talent," I say snidely to Haymitch.

"I know that," Peeta says. "He knows that." He turns to Haymitch, "Apologize to her."

He holds his precious squirrel pole up to the tree where it was and fastens it back down. "Sorry, sweetheart. You haven't lost your talent."

"Whatever, I don't believe you mean that," I cross my arms and rest on my tree branch.

"Katniss, why don't you just come down?" Peeta asks.

"Why don't you come up?" I ask him.

Peeta sighs and starts climbing. He barks at Haymitch until he gives in and climbs up the tree too. I take advantage of their clumsiness to sneak past them on the other side of the tree. When I reach the bottom I soundlessly unfasten Haymitch's squirrel pole and drag it back up with me on the other side of the tree.

Haymitch notices it's absence when I've made it halfway up the tree and have already begun fastening it to a couple of branches that are close together.

"Stop that!" Haymitch calls up at me.

"If you want me to stop you'll have to come up and stop me," I say. When I've finished tying the pole to the branches I'm satisfied that I've made a nice little squirrel ramp in between the branches. _That'll get some squirrels._

Haymitch grumbles at me during the rest of the tree climbing lesson so Peeta tells him that he is "excused," which he doesn't seem to mind since he goes to take a nap in the sunshine.

After we shower the day away and come together to eat dinner I come back downstairs to a house full of bloody miners. I instinctively make my way to the door but Peeta's waiting by the front door with his arms crossed. _Well, there's always the window_. I make my way to the window that opens up to the porch but Peeta comes up behind me and picks me up.

"Let me go," I ask. He just laughs at me. "I'm serious," I warn him.

"Your threats don't hold any weight with me, Katniss," he says. So I start to squirm to try and wiggle free, but he holds on tighter. He sets me down in my chair in the dining room and grabs some rope. When I try to make a break for it he sits on my lap. "You're being rather silly, Katniss. It's just a little blood."

I watch the ropes start to go around my waist and start to throw my body against his movements. "If you didn't struggle I wouldn't be doing this," he says.

"I believe that's one more point for me," Peeta says smugly, admiring his handiwork.

But I can still move, so I stand up with the chair tied to my back and try to walk for the front door. Haymitch and Peeta instantly crack up as they watch me. "You look like a crab!" Haymitch roars.

I hear Peeta get up and try to walk even faster but he catches me and picks me up along with the chair. When he sets me back down at my spot he ties my ankles to the chair so that I can't move anything but my arms.

Gale walks in as Peeta's finishing the final knot, and gives me a panicked look. "Help me!" I cry out to him.

"Peeta what the hell are you doing?" he asks angrily.

"She won't eat her dinner," Peeta says and nods over to where my mom and Prim are working.

"Ohh.." Gale says and then laughs. "Catnip...the only blood she can't handle is another person's." He starts walking away and I realize he's here because he knows the miners who were punished by Thread today. They're part of his crew.

"I'm counting this as one," Peeta calls out and Gale nods without looking back at him.

As I eat dinner I can hear Gale talking with his crew about the incident with Thread. His voice sounds angry, but I have a feeling he's trying to hold his words back since he knows our house is bugged. He joins us for dinner after the miners have been bandaged up and take off for their respective homes. My eyes plead with Gale to free me from my constraints but he just ducks his head down, scoops up some food from his plate, and smiles before shoveling it into his mouth. I huff. _He's going to leave me like this? _

Tonight we begin the 47th Hunger Games. The Victor's name is Lyme, and she's from District 2. Lyme takes part in the Career pack and I'm almost glad for it because we'll probably get to see her fighting techniques if she's in the pack. _Am I losing my humanity?_ I think to myself. _These are human beings. Kids. _I shudder.

"Your butt's in the way," Peeta says to me as I stand by the television to put Lyme's case in the proper order in our box of victor tapes.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" I joke without moving.

He chuckles. "Can you move it, please?"

I feel someone slap my butt and jump up with threatening eyes to all of the boys. I'm not sure which one is the culprit.

"Do as the boy says," Haymitch says, and I narrow my eyes at him. Haymitch is the culprit. "What?" he defends himself. "He's giving me a headache."

"You give yourself a headache," I bite back. "And that hurt." I rub the area he whacked.

"You need to get a thicker skin then, sweetheart."

"Can we get back to the Games now?" Peeta asks.

"Thought you wouldn't mind a conversation like this, boy," Haymitch winks at him and Gale.

"Grow up, Haymitch," Peeta says.

"You guys are weird," Gale says breaking up our bickering.

"They are weird, aren't they?" I say, coming back to sit beside him.

He throws an arm over my shoulder. "Yep, I didn't have any problem with where your butt was." I whack his arm but he gives me a teasing smile.

Halfway through Lyme's Games Gale falls asleep with his head on my shoulder. I smile down at him. I told him he should be sleeping…I sigh, and nudge him awake.

"Huh?" he asks sleepily.

"Welcome back to the real world, kid. Usually I'm the first one to fall asleep," Haymitch says.

"Yeah, and you drool all over my furniture," Peeta says.

"Don't be such a townie," Haymitch quips.

I can see that Gale is trying desperately to wake up, but I know he needs more sleep than he's getting, so I say, "Gale, you should go to bed."

He nods his head, too tired to even fight me about it, and stands up slowly. I get up with him and we walk to the door. When I walk through it with him he looks back at me with a happy smile. "Are you walking me home, Katniss Everdeen?"

I chuckle. "Yes, I am, Gale Hawthorne."

He throws an arm around me and I don't push him away until we get to town. "What?" he asks when I step out of his embrace.

I glance around at the town for my answer. We walk beside each other and he keeps swaying closer to me but I make sure we keep a "friendly distance" away from each other.

It seems he can't take the space between us anymore when we get to his house because he grabs my hand and pulls me to the side where no one would pass by, even though there's no around at this point in the evening.

"Sundays go by too fast, Catnip," he says, stepping closer to me. I press my back to the wall but this time I don't push him away. "And they don't exactly go the way I would like them to…" He kisses each cheek. "And neither do the other days of the week," he says, giving my lips a deep kiss. His lips trace their way across the line of my jaw, but we stop in our tracks when we hear giggles coming from several feet away. We look around and see no one. Then we look up at the window above us, and see Posy smiling and laughing at us.

"Go back to sleep," Gale whispers to her and she reluctantly leaves her perch. "She's too mischievous for her own good," Gale says, shaking his head.

"Goodnight, Gale," I say, dragging him to his front door so he will allow himself to get the sleep he needs.

I make my way back to Peeta's but find that Lyme's Games are almost over. Peeta tells me it's down to her and two other tributes. I look over at Haymitch who is drooling and yawn.

"Why don't you go home?" Peeta says.

"But, we're watching the Games," I say in confusion.

"I've got enough notes on her. Just go home, you're tired."

I shrug. "Okay. As long as you don't mind."

"I don't mind. Now, go. I don't need two drooling people here tonight."

"I don't drool," I pout. He rolls his eyes but doesn't comment back.

I bid him goodnight, make my way home, and crawl into bed. I trace my fingers along all the places Gale kissed me and allow myself to get drawn into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Workout Day 58, Saturday:**

A nightmare drives me back to my Games a little while after I fall asleep. It's one of those half-dream, half-awake states where my subconscious lets loose all of its fears to torment me. I try to wake up from it so that it stops, but I also want it to continue to _ensure_ that there's a good ending.

_Glimmer is in front of me, on the ground, covered with dozens of tracker jacker stings. Dead. I reach for the bow that's in her fingers, and when I try to tug it free Glimmer's mouth opens and a swarm of tracker jackers fly out of her mouth and start attacking me. I pull at the bow, convinced that if I got the bow the tracker jackers would go away and I would be okay, but my struggles are met with more and more tracker jackers swarming and stinging me and I can't free the bow. _

_My thoughts go fuzzy. Why am I not dying? Haven't I been stung enough times to die? Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom._ _The canon sounds over and over but I can't wake up._

Suddenly I fly upwards in my bed and let out a short scream. Prim is standing by my bed with wide eyes. She flies onto my bed once she sees I'm awake.

"It's okay," she coos. _What a role reversal. I used to calm her from her nightmares. _"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks.

I shake my head, and just let her hug me with her tiny arms. At least this nightmare didn't involve Prim. Those are the worst nightmares.

Tonight we start the 48th Hunger Games, and I've noticed that the closer we get to Haymitch's Games the more abrasive he becomes. Tonight he's really nasty to be around, and I have to wonder if watching Chaff's Games are still affecting him still, or if it's just his surly attitude rising to the surface.

But we don't even make it past the bloodbath for us to find out why he's acting this way.

They've zoomed in on the victor's face as the countdown comes to an end. "3…2...1…Boom!" Peeta and I jump in our seats. Our eyes are glued to the television to see how someone died before the horn went off. The commentators are laughing as the screen pans to an explosion. It looks like it was close to one of the pedestals holding a District 12 tribute and I wonder if it they were the one that died.

I peek over at Haymitch and see that his face looks devoid of all emotion. He's as white as the plate he's holding, and he's gripping it so hard I'm worried he might break it. _What's going on with him?_

Then the commentators come on and say, "Wow! Did you see that ladies and gentlemen? Harvey from District 12 stepped off a second too soon and paid the price for it! Well, it's too bad we didn't get to see him fight after all, with that 8 he got in training, but what a show!"

When Haymitch throws his plate at the wall it smashes into tiny pieces, that's when I understand him. Harvey was his friend. And he just watched his friend get blown to smithereens, again. And the Capitol is adding insult to injury.

Peeta and I exchange a look and we aren't sure what to do next. The commentators replay the moment again and again during the "slow" parts of the bloodbath, and comment that Harvey stepped off 33 milliseconds before the horn sounded. They blew him up for such a minute violation that it makes me sick to my stomach. "Hay-" I start.

But Haymitch interrupts me. "That's why you can't step off early," he says. That's all he says before he walks out the front door.

"Maybe this if for the best," I tell Peeta. Hopefully he'll just keep away tonight and try to take his thoughts off Harvey.

But he doesn't. He throws open the front door and walks over to Peeta, handing him a plate from his own collection. "Sorry about your plate," he says.

"It's okay. Really," Peeta assures him.

"The victor of these Games is from District 3 and her name is Wiress, but everyone calls her Nuts," Haymitch says, trying to detach himself from the emotions he's feeling.

"Why do they call her Nuts?" I ask.

"Because they think she's crazy," he says.

"Is she?" Peeta asks.

Haymitch scowls. "I don't know, but I wouldn't say she's completely _there_."

We watch her as she runs from the bloodbath with her meager amount of supplies. She looks around frantically and I have to wonder if she really is _all_ _there _or not. She walks around for hours and then finds a rock to hide under the first day. She doesn't do a whole lot besides scavenge and hide until day 3, so we fast forward until we see the Career pack headed her way.

To our surprise she pops up from hiding when she sees them get closer. She doesn't run or try to fight. She simply speaks. "Have you noticed this is the safe part of the arena?"

Their faces knit in confusion. "Do you know you're not safe with us around?" they taunt and draw their weapons.

She doesn't seem unnerved in the slightest. "On the contrary. We're quite safe here. I've examined this arena, and I've noticed the patterns. Have you noticed the patterns?" Up to this point I haven't heard her speak. She speaks so quickly you almost miss her words.

At this point they're intrigued. "Patterns of what?"

"You'll see," she says and walks away from them without a care in the world. One of the tributes readies a spear, but the leader, Vincenzo from District 2, pushes it down.

"Why don't you tell us the patterns and we'll let you live?" he asks.

"I'll show you. Come on," she says without turning around. She keeps walking, examining the arena, and they follow behind. The other Careers are leery of her and shoot questioning looks at Vincenzo, but he tells them to pipe down.

Wiress leads them to the top of a hill, which overlooks most of the arena. Then she starts talking about different zones and sections with outcroppings. She explains things so fast that you can almost see their heads start spinning. "Zone 1 has explosives and mutts," she says about the Cornucopia. "The section by the lake has the bad fish, so you can't go there. The lake poisons the food in zone 2 so there's nothing to eat. Then the trees in zone 3 will move, so you can't climb them. And it's best to just not go near them. There's something alive under the rocks in zone 4. The section by zone 5 is too cold, but zone 5's temperature is okay. Then there's an outcropping…" She talks for nearly 10 minutes and the Careers are starting to get irritated. They see an easy kill in front of them and their leader is entranced by her words, which they don't seem to believe for a second.

We see them exchange looks behind his back and wonder if they're about to take him out. But just when the one is starting to pull out his sword Wiress stops and turns around to face them. I'm sure her eyes dip down to the sword being drawn, but her movements are so erratic they don't think she noticed.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" the girl from 2 asks.

"How should I know?" she says simply. "But Beetee says to not stay in the open for too long so I'm going back to my safe zone now." She starts walking away. "I did my part, right?" she says suddenly to the leader, who looks at her with an odd expression.

"No way. You're coming with us," the girl from 2 pushes Wiress forward towards the stretch of rocks she described as zone 4.

"No, please," she begs. "There's something under the rocks."

"Did your crazy mentors tell you that?" the girl mocks Wiress.

"They're not crazy," Wiress says in confusion.

"Go!" the girl pushes her on. But Vincenzo takes her District partner aside. "What are you doing?" he asks. "We had a deal with her."

"You're not serious, are you?" the girl's eyes widen. "You know her mentors took out the Career packs. She could be trying to do that too! She comes with us." She's challenging Vincenzo's authority, but he nods his consent.

"Looks like we've got a Cato and Clove situation here," I mumble.

"Don't you mean _Clato_?" Peeta says using the name we've been seeing in the Capitol newspapers when they talk about the 74th Games.

"At least that's better than Peeniss," I laugh and so does Peeta.

When Wiress and the Careers get to the rocks she starts crossing them quicker than the Careers. They yell at her to slow down but she ignores them. At one point she seems to see something in between the rocks and lets out a scream.

They think she's crazy until little muttation creatures crawl out from under the rocks and start biting their legs. Wiress kicks one away and makes it to the bottom of the rocks safely. Then she runs back to her safe zone as the Careers fight off the mutts.

We fast forward through the rest of her Games since they're very uneventful. She doesn't kill a single tribute, which will be easy on my nightmares tonight but now Peeta and I have no idea if she can fight or not.

"Haymitch, do you think she would ever kill someone if she got reaped?" I ask.

He purses his lips, and says, "No."

"Would she ally with us?" I ask.

"Ah…Katniss…." he mutters and shakes his head.

"What?" I ask him as he walks away and ignores me, muttering things under his breath.

* * *

**AN: You didn't really believe I would take Gale out of Sundays did you? ;) **

Anonymous review replies:

no-oneimportant: Thank you for your awesome review! I work very hard on keeping everyone in character, but having some fun with them :D feel free to reprimand me if I go OOC! To be honest, I crave more G/K and P/K moments too. The hardest thing for me is not writing too many of those though since to me, that would seem AU. Katniss has never been a mushy lady. Unfortunately. However, I will say that some lovely moments are coming in the final chapters for shippers of each pairing ;)

Ms. Random: Thank you also for your awesome review! Feel free to keep complimenting my story as "amazing" any time you want ;) Very glad to hear that I'm not going OOC with all the humor. Not to fear, Galeniss will return! I think you will especially enjoy the final "week."

**I hope you enjoyed! Please review! If you had a favorite part I'd love to know it.**


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